


~The Tales of Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon~

by Sepublic



Series: The Stories of Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon [2]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: (mostly) Canon Compliant, Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys, Fanfic that went WAY out of control, Maelstrom (Lego Universe), Ninjago: Stone Cold, Origin Story, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Prequel, Skulkin - Freeform, Tower of Tears, Violence takes a while to arrive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-03-30 03:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 34
Words: 107,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19033972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sepublic/pseuds/Sepublic
Summary: Having just been recently inducted into Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon has to struggle to become a powerful villain of the likes Ninjago has never seen. However, when ancient enemies of his family return for vengeance, Lloyd will have to come to terms with the dark past, legacy, and shadows left by his family in order to survive. And most importantly, he needs to figure out his identity in a vast world of magic, technology, and other forces, alongside a wide variety of unlikely friends and part-time allies.





	1. PROLOGUE

 

 

 The being ran as fast as he could, trying to tire out the beast that ran after him.

 A part of him wondered why he ran; Why was he here? Who was this monstrosity? What had happened to him?

 Everything seemed so… vague now. The being felt confused. He felt like he didn’t know who he was, or what he wanted.

 He looked at the beast. It was extremely hideous, grotesque, a nightmare ripped out of the dreams of evil, and the fact that it stood on two legs was an insult to all species, from humans to serpentine. It was enormous, towering taller than any man, with fangs and elongated features. It wore armor and a wicked helm in a feeble attempt at humanity.

 But did the being always see it as feeble? Didn’t he once at least feel a sort of respect for this… thing? But how was that possible? It was attacking him!

 The being suddenly stopped. In front of him, like some daunting gate, were several others. Like him, their skin was as white as ruthless winter. They had eyes of fire, and each one was as thin as bone.

 Because… they _were_ made of bone. They were undead skeletons, serving that beast.

_They are enemies…_

 The being recognized that scathing voice. Yes… it had always been there for him, when his father wasn’t.

 Now he remembered. He was a son… a brother as well. He was once a husband, and a hero.

 The beast suddenly ran up to him, slashing at the being with cold, steel talons. The being dove out of the way, suddenly slamming into the creature with a kick that should've toppled any monster.

 Instead, the beast seemed almost amused, and it readied its talons- No, wait, swords. It readied its wicked blades for a second attack.

 As the being readied himself, he wondered how he had fallen. Surely it was the fault of that voice who spoke to him, ever since he was a child.

Was it the villain… or him? But then again, could he be called a villain, or a hero? Such titles suddenly seemed so abstract, and the line between both seemed blurred.

 The beast lunged with enough force to topple a mountain. Instead, the being swerved gracefully, striking back. The beast had no problem avoiding this counterattack; it had once fought the being, and with experience on its side it began to drive him back to the center of their arena.

 He sought powerful objects, the being remembered. He was so supposed to protect them…

_Imprison them,_ the voice corrected him. _Your ‘father’ tasked you to selfishly keep such wondrous things from the hands of those who needed it, and you rebelled at so foolish a waste of resources._

 The being suddenly agreed with the voice. He had felt the darkness, and not just within him, but around the being. It was beginning to take new forms, those his own fists could not strike, and now he was trapped, unable to do anything about it.

 The being and the beast clashed, but now there was more fire behind both of their actions. The being suddenly felt frustration at his own failure.

 But what did he fail at? Bringing that understanding with the power? Remaining the hero he was meant to be?

 As he struck at the beast with his fist, he noticed, engraved deep into his hands like scars, two jagged marks, shaped like lightning. A green, unearthly evil suddenly hissed from within.

 Now he knew. He had failed at both. But how did he?

_You ‘failed’ because you refused to let greater evil than you spread…_ the voice insisted. _You would not have failed had others branded you! If only they had seen through your eyes, if only they had suffered your curse with you…_

 The being suddenly felt the raging darkness within him. It felt strange, alien, yet it agreed with him. It was his only knowledge, his only wisdom.

The beast finally landed a blow. The dark being was flung into the air, crashing into the cold, unyielding stone. “What a disappointment,” the beast snarled. “You were once a hero! Then you gave that up for such a foolish agenda… you tried to force the others in the world above to your ideals!” It lunged at him, snatching the dark being in its taloned grasp. “Your darkness is so obvious,” the beast sneered, baring ivory fangs. “Though my duties prevent me from being biased, I still admit that I once felt such rage within me once.” The beast flung the dark being aside like trash. “You could’ve been a lord!” it reminded him.

 The dark being heard the voice within him again. _That thing does not understand your_ _efforts,_ it snarled. _You were trying to create peace! Instead, they exiled you, all of them! The very ones you trusted most, in the end, decided you were worth NOTHING!!!_ Then the dark being remembered it all. It became crystal clear as the darkness flowed freely through his veins, into his eyes. They had exiled him for such a pure goal! His methods were questionable, he would admit that, but at least he tried! He was willing to sacrifice his own honor, his foolish title, in order to achieve it all! He was no longer a hero, nor a villain. The clarity made it clear that there was no line between the two; they were all but matters of perspective. At least, now, he knew he would be a lord. He was fit to rule, for only he would accept both good and evil. And by diving into those shadows, the light was even more blinding than ever, more evident. The dark being lashed out with enormous strength, shocking the beast. The beast crashed, but almost immediately stood back up with relish. “I admit,” the beast sneered. “I am not supposed to hold either ill will nor good fortune towards anyone… but I think I, Samukai, the Four-Armed Reaper, shall let this pass!”

The blades in his hands spun, becoming tornadoes of destruction. The sheer strength and speed alone was staggering.

 A tornado… it brought an even more familiar memory back to the dark being’s mind. Yes, he could summon great power, power that was present before the darkness, and shape it to his black heart’s content.

 The dark being sneered with sheer malice as shadows materialized around himself, revealing their presence. They swirled around him in a chaotic dance, becoming a storm.

  “This is the last of you, Samukai,” the dark being sneered. “I was glad to play with you like a toy of sorts… but everything has an end, and now it’s going to be NOW!”

 The flames danced in Samukai’s eyes as he rose to full height, easily dwarfing the tornado of darkness. “Whether it will be me or you who falls,” he admitted. “At least we can agree on one thing; It is time to END this charade!”

  “INDEED!”

 The two forces lunged at each other. The Dark Lord consisted of evil, while Samukai was of death. Both were feared, but only one held true malice, and that one would be the victor.

 There was conflicting energy as the two clashed with each other. Death and evil were not forces naturally attracted to each other. Like opposites, like magnets, they clashed chaotically. One would have to move, or both would be destroyed at once.

 “KKKKTTTHHHHHOOOOOMMMM!!!!!”

 One of the forces finally fell. It sailed above the skeletons, before finally crashing into the cold earth in, a kaleidoscope of colors.

 Samukai looked up.

 He had lost.

 Now the Dark Lord stood triumphantly, a truly sadistic aura surrounding him as he was protected by that darkness around him. With a mere gesture, Samukai’s own weapons flew into the air, and lunged at him.

 Samukai closed his eyes, accepting his fate. He could not be destroyed, but in a match he had been beaten.

But the Dark Lord was having too much fun now to let Samukai just go away. Not yet. The blades did not strike the beastly force of death, but they landed close enough to send a message as clear as light.

 You lose.

 The Dark Lord admired his handiwork, like some twisted version of a sculptor, watching Samukai’s shoulders slump, accepting humility. Samukai’s own crown, the Helmet of the Underworld, had fallen off of his head as a symbol of defeat, now seeking a new, superior master.

  Carved from silver destonium, its edges had been sharpened cleanly in a twisted fashion. Though it lacked scars, any being of sentience could tell it had seen battle. Instead of the horns of some legendary beast, a single, twisted bone lay atop the forehead, jagged and dark.

 The Dark Lord picked it up, cradling it in his hands like the son he never had. He remembered of a race of five tribes that decided who was superior by having two of their own fight each other, one only winning through power alone. At first, the Dark Lord had dismissed the idea of ‘power’ making you a leader, believing those tribes to be fools. But now, the Dark Lord realized power was not just the virtue of strength alone, oh no.

 It was cunning.

 It was ruthlessness.

 It was perseverance.

 It was patience.

 It was skill.

 It was dedication.

 And as he placed the helm onto his forehead, the crown's shadow obscuring all but his raw eyes, the Dark Lord knew at once he now possessed every single one of these qualities, and he loved it.

 Glancing at the defeated Samukai with a mix of triumph, pity, and smugness, the Dark Lord smiled, and the skeletons that surrounded the duo backed away, wary of the evil they had discovered.

  "It looks like," the Dark Lord said dryly, observing his new kingdom. "There's going to be a change in management around here."


	2. The School Logo talks about its love life

Hi. The name’s Lloyd. Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon. Here’s a few things to know about me, before we start;

 

  1. My grandfather created the continent.
  2. My dad tried to take over the universe and got killed.
  3. I’m an orphan living at Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys.
  4. My teachers mostly consist of mutants, cyborgs, and other sorts of eldritch abominations.
  5. I intend to grow up and help my principal take over the world.



 

 It makes sense in context.

 It all started when I was kidnapped by a skeleton around midnight, just before my birthday, at the orphanage. Then some invisible person (my reading teacher) rescued me in a van, beat the heck out of him, and took me to the boarding school. As far as I know, it was founded by an evil sorcerer named Darkley who wanted to raise several students into power-hungry dictators and take over the world.

 Just your average principal.

 But he’s dead now (phew!). Instead, I have an evil bat person that looks like Johnny Depp whenever he feels like it for the new principal, a Jack-o-lantern headed math teacher, a sadist cyborg science teacher, my aforementioned invisible reading teacher, my heavily-armored history teacher, the secretary covered entirely in black, eyes and all, and my atrophied coach.

 As the son of the First Spinjitzu Master, my mom made a deal with Draik and the others to keep me here, and in return they would protect me from these skeletons that captured her.

 Not exactly the kind of parent who’d win a ‘Mother of the Year’ award.

 I was dropped off at the orphanage so the skeletons wouldn’t find me at the boarding school. As I mentioned before, one of them finally sniffed me out, but now I’m nice and cozy at a school where they teach you to be evil.

 In short, my entire childhood made more sense in context.

 But not that much more sense.

 

 

 My nightmare was like this;

 I was standing in, well… just empty darkness. Just pure shadows, yet it felt solid. But then again, I hadn’t really noticed that because of what really caught my attention.

 It was a skull. It was floating around, with one eye blazing like the sun and the other with a scathing glare, like the kind your teacher gives you when you forget your homework. It had fangs, and two horns that curved wickedly around its head like a crescent. It stared at me intensely, and began to whisper.

  “Date. Date. Date.”

 I had no idea what the heck that was supposed to mean. A date? Like, the nut, or a specific time, or the romantic kind? Well, the skull was obviously a nutjob (pun intended), so maybe it was the first. Or maybe he found love. Then I began to wonder what other kinds of disembodied skulls existed.

 It began chanting the same word over and over. I was both creeped out, then annoyed. Why the heck was it being so cryptic?

 Then it suddenly stopped, going stiff. I felt myself do the same.

 The back of my neck tingled, like when you’re caught doing something you’re not supposed to. I wasn’t sure what I did wrong, but then again, I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, and I didn’t recognize the skull.

 And that was when it screamed, as if whatever was stalking us in the darkness now had its talons on our flesh.

 “RRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!”

 Now, I’m not the type to scream from a nightmare. I always wake up silently, yet terrified.

 Still, I made a pretty loud noise when I sat up and slammed my head into the ceiling.

 Searing pain flashed into my forehead, while it tingled as if electrified. My eyes were wrenched shut, and I tried to contemplate where I was at.

 The screaming kept on going on. Someone groaned, annoyed.

 Scream?

 That wasn’t right. I began to realize it was a bell.

 A school bell.

 And then I remembered where I was at; the school dormitory for Frared’s homeroom class. The ‘ceiling’ was actually the bottom of the bed right above me. I vaguely tried to remember who slept above me, but I didn’t need to bother, because they started yelling at me, ticked off.

  “Hey, Kid, QUIT IT! I’m tryin’ ta sleep here!”

  “Not my fault,” I grumbled. I vaguely recognized the voice as Richie Rich, the son of a corrupt billionaire. The kid had wavy, blonde hair, and was obsessed with swindling you. Luckily, only a small number of kids had actual money, so he had to settle with homework passes and ice cream.

 On my right side was a second bunk bed. On the top lay Brad Tudabone, a kid with shaggy black hair and a mastermind of pranks. Beneath him was Francis ‘The Gold Digger’ Lustein. Why was he called that? Well, all the tissues around his bed was all the answer you needed.

 Brad clamped his pillow over his head as the bell began screeching persistently. Francis squirmed, sending used-tissues flying everywhere. One almost touched me.

 Gross.

 I shook off the creepy feeling and felt my eyes built up with crust that formed overnight. As I began to pick at it, the bell decided to shut up.

 Finally.

 I lay in bed, pondering on what my dream met. I read in some books on how the main character always had some freaky nightmare that foretold the future or some other nasty stuff.

 I groaned. Great. Now I had TWO of those, because last night I also had another nightmare about some evil guy in the shadows discussing with a four-armed skeleton why he wasn’t in jail or something like that.

 I paused, wondering about the skull. It seemed familiar, but…

 I began to scour my memories. It seemed a pretty recent one, so that meant I must’ve seen it around yesterday…

 A jolt of realization struck me.

 The skull was the same insignia for Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys.

 It was plastered on our school uniforms. Trexdis wore a T-shirt with it, Coach Yelatem had it on his boxing armor, and there were a few other obscure places.

 But date? Why was it saying date? It probably wasn’t talking about fruit or its new girlfriend, to it must’ve meant a specific time or something, as if something was going to happen.

 Great. Just great.

 My body felt drained and exhausted, yet I was confused and, I admit, a bit scared. I wanted to tell the only people I felt I could trust; Trexdis, the invisible reading teacher that wanted to help me survive school, and Brad.

 I yawned, literally dragging along my lazy limbs out of bed. I wobbled over to the door, opening it.

 Beyond was a circular, large room, with a table in the middle, chairs and sofas, and a bowl of fruits I didn’t recognize or trust.

 But this time everything was covered in cheesy, fake Halloween decorations. Toy spiders dangled from the ceiling, getting tangled constantly, fake ooze was splattered over the walls, toy snakes hidden under the sofas. It was a pretty sad sight that cost less than ten dollars.

 But I didn’t really notice.

 Because, right in front of me, waiting for me, towering over my head was a skeleton, just like the one I met two days ago.

 I yelled, staggering backwards. Richie, Francis, and Brad jumped at the noise, just in time to see me trip and hit my head at the edge of the cabinet.

 Ow.

 I looked back at the skeleton, even though that was a stupid idea. Or maybe not so stupid, because a second look revealed two things;

 One; It was fake.

 Two; Finn was behind it, laughing his head off and pointing at me.

 Finn Ayabbers is the son of some mad scientist who turned himself into an insectoid monster. He would’ve had a good time with Arakchos.

 However, he married someone else instead, and we got a kid about an inch and a half taller than me, with red hair shaped like flames. Finn was the most feared bully, at the top of the food chain. Every kid who met him would’ve been lucky to only get a texas wedgie.

 Oh, and he could turn dead stuff into bugs, thanks to his dad.

 I glared at him, my face going red. I knew I couldn’t take this guy on in a fight, but I had no idea what to say so I wouldn’t look even stupider than usual.

  “Uh… cool skeleton,” I blurted dumbly. Finn sneered at me as I staggered to my feet, rubbing the back of my head to make sure I didn’t tear it apart or something.

  “Forgot about Halloween, Lloyd the Loser?” he snarled. I shot him my most scathing glare. I’m not the kind of kid to get scared by bullies, but mad at them, which in this Boarding School was an advantage.

  “It’s stupid,” I shot back, but that was a blatant lie. I’ll confess; I loved Halloween. I loved scaring the heck out of everyone, the mad scramble for sugar, everything. It was barbaric, and I loved it.

 Finn raised an eyebrow. “Whatever. Hope you remembered your costume.”

 He turned his back on me, stomping away. As far as I knew, he always stomped, even when he was happy, so I shuddered to imagine what it was like when he was angry.

  “Nice going,” Richie yawned. With his sneering, sly voice, it was always impossible to tell whether or not he was sarcastic.

 I grumbled, stalking my way to the bathroom. My bare feet trembled at the icy, wet floor, and I quickly relieved myself before heading back to my room. Brad and Francis were getting up now, but Richie had refused to leave his bed, covering himself up with his blanket like a cocoon.

  “Can’t wait for Halloween!” Brad declared excitedly. “Ha! Just wait ‘til evening, and it’s candy time!”

 I nodded somberly while Francis took out his costume; ten rolls of toilet paper.

  “Did ya know mummies took out their brain through their noses?” he asked.

  “He must’ve pulled _his_ out while picking his nose,” Brad whispered to me out of the corner of my mouth. I smirked.

  “So what’re you being for Halloween?” I asked Brad. Brad grinned, taking out some plastic fangs and fitting them into his mouth.

  “Ouwn Dwakoola,” he announced proudly, saliva dribbling out of his mouth. “Ooo?”

 I cleared my throat. “Uh… no idea. I was originally going to get my costume as a birthday present yesterday, but I left it back at the orphanage…”

 Brad shrugged, spitting out his plastic teeth. A line of drool still connected it to his mouth. “Well, we can always steal the toilet paper from the bathrooms…”

  “I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that stuff,” I retorted. “No offense, Francis.”

  “Durr…”

 I grabbed my clothes; the Darkley school uniform. It consisted of a black, scratchy sweater with the purple insignia on it, with a white dress shirt underneath, a purple tie, black nylon pants and sneakers. “Turn around, will ya?”

 Brad and Francis turned their backs on me.

 After I changed, I noticed I was pretty hungry. “I’m starving,” I muttered. “I’m heading to the cafeteria.”

 Brad tossed me a map. “Here you go,” he replied. “You’re pretty new here, so you might get lost.”

 Even as I turned and left, he snickered. “If you don’t know where to go, check the map, Dora the Explorer!”

 I scowled. No way was  _I_ gonna be caught dead using it after Brad’s remark.

 Several steps down the stairs later, and I did.


	3. The Teachers and I discuss Omens over Breakfast

  “Left… right… right…” I muttered to myself, embarrassed. I looked around, hoping no one was there.

 I finally took another turn and looked down the hallway. In blazing golden letters, above two double doors, were the words ‘CAFETERIA’.

 I folded up the map, glad no one saw me wondering around the school like an idiot. Just as I thought the coast was clear, a figure I hoped to never see again swooped out of nowhere.

 He was skinny, his body covered in green scales. He had a long, whip-like tail, with sharpened talons. His head was ovular and orange, with ghastly yellow eyes and a brown stump on top, like a jack-o-lantern with an underbite.

 It was Jonathan Frared, my math teacher.

According to the school nurse (long story), he was apparently some loser who met Metallicus, Draik, and Darkley before they started the Boarding School. He hung out with them, got hit by a spell thanks to some evil witch, and was now the living embodiment of Halloween, fittingly.

 Then again, this backstory was based on what the nurse overheard from random discussions, so her information could’ve been as accurate as wikipedia done by a seven-year old.

  “Why if it isn’t Mr. Garmadon!” he said happily, pretending to be surprised as if we had randomly walked into each other, instead of him stalking me.

  “Hi,” I muttered, turning my back on him and trying to walk into the cafeteria.

 It didn’t work.

 Frared clung to me like some sort of overgrown fungus, trying to get my attention. “SO, Mr. Garmadon, how’s your morning? Mine’s good!” Frared announced.

 In case you’re wondering, since my grandfather is the First Spinjitzu Master, I’m basically a celebrity here. Still, while some people (cough –Frared- cough) were nice to me because of this, others (cough –Finn- cough) didn’t really care.

 Frared slung his arm with mine, as if we were best buddies or some other fate worse than death. “How about you and I have breakfast with the OTHER teachers?” he suggested.

 Oh dear.

 I couldn’t protest, and even if I could, my words would probably go in through one ear and out the other. Frared shoved open the doors, announcing loudly, “MAKE WAY FOR LLOYD MONTGOMERY GARMADON, DESCENDANT OF THE FIRST SPINJITZU MASTER AND SON OF THE GREAT AND EVIL LEE GARMADON!!!”

 All the chit-chat that buzzed inside stopped as everyone’s heads turned toward me. To make sure no one thought I actually liked Mr. Frared, I did a cuckoo sign next to him.

 Everyone shrugged and went back to whatever they were doing.

 Frared dragged me to the line, grabbing trays for us and piling his with whole-wheat bread and other revolting stuff. “What do YOU want, Mr. Garmadon?” he asked.

 I muttered some of my choices to him, eyeing the two robots that worked behind the counter.

 The first, Spirius-2, was a flat, rotund disk sitting on two treads. Several smaller cylinders stacked on each other had all sorts of bizarre limbs attached to them, with a giant, spiked block on top like a hammer with two screen eyes at the front. The other, Spirius-3, was a large, foot-ball shaped machine that hovered in the air, with multiple green eyes on the front and all of his arms connected to the top of his head. Both of them, like all Spirius robots, were a deep black with glowing green streaks scattered over their body in a circuit-board design.

 Spirius-3 glared at me pointedly, ever since I nearly killed him with creamed spinach.

 Long story.

  “Hello, Mr. Garmadon,” he snarled. “I hope you enjoy the _eggs_.” Behind him, Spirius-2 waved to me.

  “Uh… yeah…” I blurted randomly. Frared chuckled, as if the both of us were having a friendly conversation. “Well, let’s eat!”

 After getting our stuff at the cash register (a robot named Spirius-$ that only scanned your food and blurted out its cost, without actually charging you), Frared led me to a large, circular table, reserved for the staff.

 Watching me were five people I only met yesterday that I could never forget.

 The first was Trexdis. According to Juriyn, the nurse, she was once a teen orphan that met Draik, got involved with a ‘Mirror World’ experiment, and was now invisible. Her entire body was covered in bandages to make herself more visible, with slits for eyes, and she wore an orange T-shirt with the Darkley insignia, a gray jacket, and jeans.

 The second was Arakchos. She resembled a mechanical, overgrown spider with a spindly human half where the head should’ve been, with talons. Her head was dome-shaped, her brain concealed within plates of Destonium, with glowing green eyes and fangs. Like her Spirius robots, she was black with glowing green streaks all over. She was once a sadistic scientist who accidentally messed up and got blown up. Draik saved her and used some of his magic to transfer her soul and brain to her new body.

 The next one was Vaidd Scors. He was covered in sleek black armor that was a fusion of Kevlar and some metalloid, with jutting shoulder pads. His mask had no holes or anything, just two slits that circled around his head in a loop, and was a pretty lean and tall person with a threatening frame, his armor making him look like some criminal warrior. Despite his rugged voice and frame, the guy was actually once a lawyer, and went to a restaurant (maybe Pappadeaux or Olive Garden) to celebrate a case. However, he got lost, stopped at a house for directions… and it blew up, scarring him, because it turned out that was the same one Arakchos lived in. Go figure.

 After him was Coach Nathaniel Yelatem. The guy was incredibly atrophied like a skeleton, with gray, lifeless skin and red bloodshot eyes. His cage-like helmet was off, exposing a sunken face with a crop of faded blonde hair like dying wheat. He wore boxing armor over his chest, with hands covered heavily in bandages. He wore short, tattered jean shorts that stopped around his shins, with red nike sneakers. A strange device with tubes was attached to his back. Coach Yelatem was once this famous boxer, but he got banned for being too violent and started robbing banks. He was recruited by Draik, and Arakchos gave him a serum that was pumped into him daily, making him stronger yet look physically weaker.

 And finally, there was Metallicus. Completely covered in silver destonium armor, the guy’s eye holes were sealed with smooth, scarlet diamond. He had wicked horns carved into his helmet, with not a single hole to breathe around his entire body, and a flowing black cape. Along with Draik, Juriyn had no idea who he was, but we both assumed he was the descendant of the leader of the Metal Clan, a criminal orgnization that was disgraced when it started this huge war. He also apparently, at one point, killed some Mantore, so I think he might’ve been a hunter.

 I glared at my least favorite teachers of the group; Metallicus, Arakchos, and Yelatem. Yelatem was wolfing down an enormous breakfast, from corn flakes to bacon, taking enormous swigs out of a milk carton. Arakchos was sucking some orange liquid out of this clear vat along with Scors (although he had some coffee and bacon, too), Metallicus must’ve finished early and was reading, and Trexdis was quietly munching on some Lucky Charms. She alone acknowledged me, nodding in my direction.

  “So, Melissa, how’s your experiments?” Frared asked, setting down our trays. I reluctantly sat down.

  “I HOPE YOU’RE READY FOR SOME TRAINING REGIMENS, KID!!!” Yelatem roared, snatching a pile of toast and attacking it in a chewing frenzy. Metallicus grimaced as bread crumbs flew everywhere. “I respect your diet, true, and I won’t comment on your manners… but AT LEAST try not to smother us with bread crumbs or any other kind of food or object!”

 He swept toast bits out of the pages of his book. “Well, Mr. Garmadon, I hope you’re feeding your pet George Krumm,” Arakchos reminded me.

 I frowned, thinking of my pet worm. Krumm was born when Finn demonstrated his mutagenic powers for me. Arakchos handed me some enzymes that helped him digest stuff or something like that, and seemed oddly interested in him now.

  “Uh… good,” I muttered, not facing her and staring into my scrambled eggs. I grabbed my fork.

  “Why did I wake up early on a Saturday?!” Scors lamented. “It’s a weekend!”

  “We’ve still got to discuss Draik,” Trexdis muttered, and I could’ve sworn she mentioned this on purpose for me.

 It caught my attention, if that was what she wanted.

  “Draik?” I asked. The teachers suddenly paused to look at me.

  “NOTHING!” Yelatem roared. “JUST SOME STUPID STUFF ABOUT DRAIK BEING ALL CUCKOO!!!”

 Cuckoo?

  “To be exact,” Metallicus interrupted. “Yelatem apparently thinks that if you avoid Halloween every year because you hate it, you’re crazy. Principal Draik is, as of now, avoiding this holiday since he doesn’t care about it, needs a vacation, and has US to watch over _certain children_.”

 The way he said ‘certain children’, it sounded like it was forced, as if his mouth was trying to say something else… like my name, to be specific.

 I nodded quickly. “Um… yeah,” I said quietly, trying to finish my breakfast as quick as possible so I could get away.

  “I must say, Mr. Garmadon, this year’s Halloween will be so much fun!” Frared announced, winking at me.

 I stopped myself from rolling my eyes.

 As we continued eating quietly (well, all of us except Yelatem), I remembered something; my nightmare.

 Normally I wouldn’t tell the teachers, but I always heard about how some cryptic dreams were always an omen for something. I considered telling them about both nightmares, but I remembered how I wanted to keep the first one secret. It seemed a lot more important than my second one, and I felt I might be able to blackmail my way out with it. I didn’t know why, but it seemed pretty valuable info.

  “Um…” I muttered. All of the teachers paused, glancing at me. “Well… last night I had a nightmare-”

  “-And evidently you couldn’t keep it to yourself,” Metallicus sneered, remembering how I woke up from the first one, only to find fire-ants in my bed (long story, again).

  “Well, I had an ordinary dream,” I lied. “It was the fire ants that made me, uh… yell.”

 Yelatem snorted.

  “Anyway, when I went back to sleep, that’s when it happened. There was a horned skull with one of its eyes on fire, saying ‘Date’ over and over again, and it looked just like that symbol we wear.”

 I pointed at my sweater. Now all of the teachers were _really_ interested.

  “So what you’re saying,” Arakchos muttered. “Is that our insignia was chanting ‘Date’?”

 She suddenly seemed interested in me even more. “How… _intriguing_ ,”

 I gulped. I remember when I first met Arakchos, and I can’t shake the feeling she might kidnap me one day and use me for an experiment.

 Metallicus shrugged. “Well, the whole point of the insignia… was nothing. It was simply supposed to be cool or threatening, or both. Rule of Cool, to be short. Weird dreams mean absolutely nothing.”

 I wasn’t sure if he was lying, because he seemed to be legitimately telling the truth.

 I glanced at Trexdis. She said nothing, but with the way her head was tilted like she was giving a certain look, I had a feeling my dream might’ve meant something.

 Frared cleared his throat. “So, Mr. Garmadon, seeing as how you’re a new student,” he announced. “And as it is procedure, you’re going to need toiletries, separate changes of clothes, a clear understanding of the school schedule, policies, rules, and of our ancient Ninjagoan history.”

 He smiled at me as if this was no big deal.

  “We’ll send you everything you need,” Trexdis added. Scors took out a notebook and began writing down some stuff. “Hey, Yelatem, I need you to accompany me. We’ve got materials to, ahem… _borrow_.”

 Borrow?

 As I reminded myself that these guys were technically all criminals, using illegal cash-making machines and stuff. Of course, if that wasn’t proof enough, the whole place was dedicated to making children _evil_ , for pete’s sake! (in fact, it’s only because of deals, land rights, and legal loopholes that the place hasn’t been shut down)

  “BACK IN MY DAY-” Yelatem choked on a piece of bacon, making noises like an asthmatic rat.

 Metallicus hit him on the back, dislodging it.

  “Thank you,” Yelatem gasped, glaring at him. “Right, BACK IN _MY_ DAY WE HAD TO FIGHT EACH OTHER FOR THE LAST TEXTBOOK TO THE _DEATH!!!!_ ”

 Finished, he grabbed the entire bin of napkins and began messily plastering them all over his face, carrying his helmet under his arm. When I first met him, I used to think he used it to protect himself with it, but it began to occur to me he was using it to protect others _from_ him.

 Yelatem stomped forward, shaking the ground with violent enthusiasm. And even as the two left, I wondered if the armor covering Mr. Scors’ chest looked like as if something had been erased, scratched out.

  “Well, then, that was a WONDERFUL breakfast, wasn’t it, Mr. Garmadon?” Frared declared. “You know, I think I’ll start setting up my little Halloween prank,” Frared got a nasty look on his face. “Oho, but don’t tell the others!” he told me out of the corner of his mouth, acting like he was hatching some diabolical plot to take over the world, and not to humiliate my juvenile delinquent friends.

  “Well, Mr. Garmadon, I expect you to start studying once you receive your supplies,” Metallicus snarled, slamming his book shut. “Or else candy won’t be the _only_ thing they’ll be passing out tonight!”

_Yeah, right,_ I thought. _When you and Yelatem start getting along._

 I picked up my messy tray, suddenly having lost my appetite. Dumping it at the trash can (with Spirius-3 watching me like a hawk), I walked out of the cafeteria.

 I began to wonder about my dream, but I pushed that thought aside, along with Metallicus giving me excess homework. I had more interesting things to worry about, like what I should wear for Halloween.


	4. I help build a Spider next to the Janitor's OxiClean Shrine

 When I arrived at the dorm, all the decorations had either been stolen or torn apart. Typical. Everyone was busy working on their costumes, with cheesy face-paints and dingy plastic masks. A few stood by, bragging about their ‘secret’ costume, which I figured was probably some futile attempt to make theirs somehow seem more impressive when they actually revealed it.

 When I walked inside, Brad was doodling on a piece of paper while Francis was doing his signature hobby. Richie, on the other hand, was still in bed, pajamas and all.

  “You should get up,” I told him.

  “Mrff.” Was his half-hearted reply.

  “What’s up with him?” I asked Brad. When I leaned over, I noticed he was drawing a map of a town, circling several houses and other buildings. He drew a long, complicated arrow throughout the streets.

  “Dunno, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with Halloween.” Brad explained. “You see, one time Richie made Metallicus angry-”

  “MMM!!!”

 Brad rolled his eyes. “-And talked to him after we left. When I was eavesdropping on him, I only heard ‘Hallo’ before he told me to scram.” He shrugged. “Maybe he said Richie can’t go trick-or-treating?” He nudged Richie.

  “GFFFF!!!”

  “Whatever,” I said, not caring about Richie’s predicament. I know it sounds mean, to be honest with you, I only met him yesterday, with my main interaction being when I got food for my pet worm and now.

  “What is that, anyway?” I asked Brad, pointing at the map. He folded it up, stuffing it into his pocket. “It’s a map of some town nearby,” he explained. “You see, every Halloween, Spirius-1 takes us out in a bus to this town, with a neighborhood and stuff. We then get to go trick-or-treating, and if you don’t return by the end of the night, this bot named Spirius-10 snatches you up and you get, like, a million detentions, do a thousand push-ups, or hear Frared sing his karaoke,”

 He shuddered at the thought, and I wondered who would be so cruel and inhumane to order such punishments… until I remembered Metallicus.

 Brad shook it off. “Anyway, this map shows the places that give out the most candy, and not stuff like toothbrushes or anything. I heard Seamus secretly collects the toothbrushes that dentist on Mac Street hands out and keeps them in mint-condition, still in their packages.”

 I sat down on my bed, reaching underneath and taking out a pencil case. Popping it open, it revealed a bunch of wet dirt and my pet worm, George Krumm.

 About him- Finn, as I mentioned earlier, was the son of some mutated mad scientist, so obviously he inherited a few traits; red hair, blue eyes, and evil insect mutagen. He could only do it to dead matter, like wooden objects, so he demonstrated once with my pencil, and it became a worm. I kept it and named him George Krumm, because I thought he was the one who invented the pencil. Instead, he actually made the potato chip (although that’s still a genius invention). Also, I think I might've spelled his name wrong.

 George Krumm squirmed around, all slimy and gross and awesome. He obviously didn’t like the light.

  “Say, Krumm,” I muttered, picking him up. He felt even slimier in my bare hands, wriggling. “You’re a bit bigger.”

 It was true. Krumm was now at least two times as thick, and twice as long. It was kind of gross, but I didn’t really care. I suddenly remembered how, when Ms. Arakchos gave me the ‘enzymes’ to help feed him, she accidentally mentioned a file named ‘GRG-KMM’, and I had a feeling the two might’ve been connected.

 I shook it off. Grabbing the yellow plastic can I kept with the case, I sprinkled little neon green flakes into the dirt, grinding them with my fingers before dropping Krumm back inside. He instantly squirmed straight into the muck.

 I snapped the case shut, wiping my hands on one of Francis’ cleaner tissues.

 The door suddenly opened. At first I expected it to be one of my classmates, asking us about our costumes, but it turned out to be Spirius-1, the janitor.

 Spirius-1 resembled a mechanical spider, about the size of a child- like me. Instead of eight eyes, he had two ghastly green ones, with two human-like arms attached on his back. Like the rest of his fellow drones, he was colored a deep black with neon green streaks all over.

 Instead of his ordinary janitor cart, he was now carrying a giant cardboard box. I wondered how his spindly little arms could carry such weight.

  “Hello, Lloyd,” he chirped, setting it down. “What is it?” I asked, having the faint glimmer of hope that someone –maybe Trexdis- just sent me a costume.

 Spirius-1 tore off the long strip of duct tape that sealed it shut, smashing it into a sticky bundle and tossing it into the plastic bin. Cautiously, I opened it. A burst of fresh, mint-condition air struck me, and inside was…

 A bunch of toiletries, textbooks, and a few sheets of paper.

_Of course,_ I thought to myself sarcastically, somewhat disappointed. _The supplies. How could I forget?_

 As I sat down, feeling pretty overwhelmed, Spirius-1 spoke up. “You know, if you wanted a costume, I can actually help you with it.”

 I brightened up. “Really?” I asked. Brad grinned. “Way to go, Lloyd!”

 Spirius-1 nodded. “Luckily, I don’t really need to clean anything as of now, so we may start now if you please.”

 I got off the bed, and began to follow Spirius-1 out of the dorm. We eventually made it to the elevator, and Spirius-1 pressed a plastic button labeled ‘1’ while the doors closed.

 As some guy who sounded like he was form the seventies began singing ‘La-la-la-laaaaa’, I looked around the walls of the elevator, completely covered and scribbled with the most random kind of graffiti. And when I mean random, I meant some of the most weirdest things had been written all over the place. One said ‘Green is the most explosive color’ and another said ‘Orca used Surf’!

  “Hey, Spirius-1,” I muttered. “If don’t have anything else to clean, what about this elevator?”

 Spirius-1 fidgeted, glaring at me. “ _You_ try to erase these writings! You couldn’t remove them without destroying the entire elevator!”

 The doors opened and we left, eventually coming across a dinghy-looking door that had the words ‘Janitor’ plastered onto it. Spirius-1 opened the door, and I stepped inside.

 The strong aroma of chemicals and febreeze hit me like a wave, and I staggered a bit, pretty overwhelmed. The room was pretty big for a Janitor’s closet, but considering the fact that pretty much every student here was a juvenile delinquent, I guess he needed all the space for supplies.

 The room was pretty musty, with a dead gray floor covered in dust. A bunch of metal shelves filled with cleaning chemicals, ranging from Oxiclean to Orange Glo, and a bunch of air fresheners. Cardboard boxes littered the place, and several mops and rake-like tools that I assumed were for removing gum hung on a nearby rack. A few janitor carts were tucked into an open closet on the side, and a large wooden table was in the middle, with a few collapsible chairs, with their paint peeling off. A light bulb hung off of a long wire, glowing pretty brightly for such a little guy, and a giant poster of Billy Mays and his partner Anthony Sullivan was taped onto the wall.

  “Um… nice place?” I said uncertainly. I wasn’t really sure what to think of Spirius-1’s apparent reverence for cleaning products.

 Spirius-1 shrugged, taking out a sheet of paper and a pencil. Setting it down, he climbed onto a chair. I sat down as well, picking on the paint job.

  “Okay, Lloyd,” he began. “What do you want for your costume?”

 I considered it for a moment. “Well… I don’t want to do real people or fictional characters, that’s for sure.” I shuddered, remembering my Kalligan Donigan costume from a few years ago. I may have been the ultimate nerd for Star Fare, but I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that costume again!

  “How about animals?”

 I shook my head. “I don’t want those, although I might keep some of the, you know, cooler ones, like reptiles or bugs.”

  “And no inanimate objects, I presume?”

  “NO!”

  “Okay then. How about the iconic monsters, then?”

 I began mulling over some of my ideas. I didn’t want to be Frankenstein or a zombie, they kind of looked stupid. I didn’t want to be a vampire, Brad was already one (along with a few others, I think). I wasn’t a girl, so a witch sadly wasn’t on my list, and wizards seemed boring. I considered being a Jack-O-lantern guy, but then I remembered Mr. Frared, and dressing up like him might make him think I thought he was cool. And I didn’t want to be a mummy and end up wrapping myself head-to-toe in toilet paper or bandages (no offense, Trexdis).

 In the end, the only things I really considered out of the iconic monsters was a werewolf.

  “Remember, Mr. Garmadon,” Spirius-1 reminded me. “You also have some of the ‘cooler’ animals, such as reptiles or insects, and possibly acquatic creatures like sharks.”

 I shrugged, not sure what to do. I eventually looked at Spirius-1, trying to think of inspiration.

 I’m surprised I hadn’t realized it earlier.

 I was busy thinking about animals, seeing as how werewolves were basically just like wolves, until Spirius-1’s appearance actually began to worm itself into my brain.

 I slammed the table in excitement. “That’s it!” I declared. “I’m going to be a spider!”

 Spirius-1 seemed very flattered by this. “Well, this should be easy,” he decided. “Now, then…”

 He drew a stick-figure. “Now, would you like to wear the legs on your back, with the abdomen around the hips and a spider mask on your head?”

  “Nah,” I replied. “I don’t want a giant second butt hanging off of my first one tonight. How about we make a huge spider, like a bit bigger than me, but the bottom of the head’s hollowed out so I can wear it, and when I crawl I’m like a real one!”

 Spirius-1 drew a quick sketch over the figure. “Like this?”

 I nodded. “Yeah, yeah, let’s do that!”

  “Would you prefer it to be made of nylon, or a tent fabric?”

 He pulled out two strips from different boxes. I felt each one, then pointed at the nylon. Spirius-1 nodded. “Very well then,” he decided. He took out a measuring tape and began to measure my face. “I need to know how large to make the mask…”

 After making the right measurements, we began to make a frame out of some metal wires, Styrofoam, and cardboard. We stuck the pieces together using duct tape and super glue. I have to admit, while I did do my share, Spirius-1 did most of the work, being better at the stuff than I was. He would usually bend the wires into place and rip off strips of duct tape while I cut the Styrofoam and cardboard.

  “Say, Spirius-1,” I said while we continued to work on our project. “I had this nightmare last night. Two of them, to be exact.”

 Spirius-1 stopped bending a wire. “Yes?”

  “Well… don’t tell anyone, not because I’m embarrassed, but something else.” I explained. “Basically, the first one, I was in this dark underground chamber with all this lava everywhere, and there was this four-armed skeleton called Samukai talking to this dude in the shadows called the Dark Lord. They were talking… sort of threatening each other, talking about an alliance. When Samukai mentioned hurting a kid, the Dark Lord got all angry, like the kid was important for something…”

 A nasty thought struck me.

  “…And I might be this kid.”

 Spirius-1 was quiet for a moment. Finally, he spoke up, although pretty reluctantly.

  “I am afraid that… it’s just my idea, that’s all… but I think this Dark Lord and Samukai intend to use you for their own purposes.”

 I raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, think about it. Darkley made a deal with your mother before his, ah… ‘departure’…” I noticed how he avoided the word, ‘death’.

  “…And being the son of the First Spinjitzu Master, you may be the key to great power, or to possibly blackmail others…”

  “Others?”

 Spirius-1 was suddenly very serious. “Even before his evil, your father and uncle Lee and Wu made very many enemies. And many were terrible, indeed.”

  “Before my dad’s evil?” I asked. “That was pretty long ago… they should be dead.”

 Spirius-1 gave me a mourning look, but then quickly shook it off.

  “Anyways, remember, your mother, uncle, and grandmother are still alive… they all possessed a legendary prowess in martial arts and spinjitzu, and to wield both you would be a lethal force.

 I paused, looking down at a chunk of Styrofoam. I was thinking about people that might know about my relatives and all, besides the teachers and the Dark Lord and Samukai. Then an even scarier idea formed into my head.

  “Do you think this Dark Lord could be… David Cross?”

 Spirius-1 seemed surprised, but shook his head. “I have no idea, honestly. If he was, then we would have less enemies to worry about. On the other hand, this would mean he may have acquired great power, along with this equally fearsome Samukai. And if not, then we have more enemies to deal with… _you_ have more.”

 I felt uncomfortable. I remembered how Finn mentioned Cross used ‘dark magic’ and stuff that involved raising the dead, and seeing how Samukai and his supposed minion, Gruesome (the skeleton that kidnapped me, whose name described him perfectly), weren’t exactly the most healthy-looking people, I decided there had to be _some_ connection.

  “Whatever,” I said, shaking the thoughts out of my head. I tried to think about more cheery things, like ponies or candy. Anything.

 I noticed my stomach grumble. “Gee, I’m hungry,” I muttered. I looked at the clock. “When’s lunch again?”

  “Just about five minutes or so,” Spirius-1 beeped, happy to change the subject. “You should go now. I’ll continue working on it for you.”

 I nodded, getting up. “Thanks, Spirius-1.”


	5. I spy with my little eye a Stalker

 By the time I arrived at the cafeteria, the place was already filled with a bunch of hubbub. Fresh air streamed in from the balcony, where a bunch of toy spiders hung. Halloween decorations had finally been hung, and they now had Halloween-themed foods, such as ‘Jack-o-lantern casserole’, or ‘Barbecue Werewolf steak’.

 I got my tray and chose the ‘Witch Cauldron Stew’ along with some ‘Ghostly Marshmallows’, and ‘Dracula’s Blood Punch’ as a drink.

 At the end of the line was Spirius-$. $ resembled a fusion of an ATM, cash register, and computer, all sitting on six crab-like legs. At the top was a long, serpentine neck, with a dragon-like head with drills for fangs and a row of spines at the back. At his right was a spindly, single arm with a scanner at the end and a tube of energy connecting it to his back.

  “Well, enjoy your lunch,” Spirius-$ told me in a stereotypical Chicago gangster accent, and then behind my back, “Yeah, _right!_ Like I care! I’m programmed for the CHA-CHING!” And in this case, he literally WAS going cha-ching, because he had scanned the cost of another person’s lunch.

 I shrugged as I began to walk to my favorite table, where all of my friends sat. As I looked back at the balcony, feeling glad to breathe in fresh air for once. While indoor air may seem more ‘clean’ at times, it just felt better in the outdoors.

 Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys was located in an enormous series of fields dubbed the ‘Spiral Marshes’, basically consisting of marshes and pools of water shaped like spirals, oddly enough. One of my teachers at my old schools said it was some sort of ‘natural phenomenon’, but I thought it was just cool. A few large, rocky mountains that stood so high they had snow on their peaks occasionally dotted the area, with vast hills here and there.

 Then, as I looked at one of these nearby mountains, my blood froze.

 Chills ran through my spine. Goosebumps emerged from my skin and a freezing, murky fear frothed in my gut.

 Because, there, watching me from a towering, jagged cliff, was a crouching figure, covered head-to-toe in bandages, similar to Trexdis, with the only opening being a triangular slit revealing a cerulean, crystalline eye underneath.

 They may have been so far away, but when you see something terrifying, you can only help but look and suddenly see it so much more clearly.

 They were looking straight at me. I had no idea why, or who they were. There were a bunch of kids in here with me in the cafeteria, yet that single exposed eye seemed to single me out.

 Then the figure suddenly just stood up, and jumped over the side, disappearing into the rocky crags scattered around the base of the mountain.

 I was totally freaked out.

 I suddenly felt like someone else was watching me, and when I turned, I was thankfully wrong. I shook off the feeling, but it still lingered like some phantom of terror, and clung to me as I sat down at the table.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Brad noted, chewing on a Ghost Marshamallow.

  “I might have.” I muttered.

  “You smell like laundry detergent,” Terrence added, unimpressed.

 Terrence was a kid with spiky, acid-green hair and eyes. He was one of the two tallest kids, the other being Two (the second kid to speak to me in our first conversation, along with a few others, hence the nickname). He was eating a lemon raw, which would normally have impressed me… but then again, bandaged creeps with crystal eyes ‘normally’ don’t appear on mountain cliffs, stalking you.

 I waved it off. “Long story,” I muttered, taking out my plastic, flimsy spoon and scooping lukewarm stew into my mouth, even though I had lost my appetite. What should I do about what I saw? Tell a teacher?

 Yeah, it seemed the most obvious choice. _Why not?_ I thought to myself.

 But first I was hungry.

 The other kids at my table were Diablo Sanchez, a shrimpy little kid who had dyed-blue hair and an obsession over spicy foods, Beefy, this kid whose name I couldn’t remember when I first met him, who was pretty, well, beefy and fat, with short red hair in a buzzcut and watery eyes. Brad, Francis, and a rather solemn-looking Richie were there as well.

  “Hey, what’s your name again?” I asked Beefy bluntly. I know it made me sound stupid, considering I already had a pretty long discussion with him, Two, Terrence, and some other kids, but when I first heard his name I had several other questions in my mind at the time. And now, I was still pretty chilled from my experience and couldn’t care less.

 Beefy seemed a bit startled by this, but shrugged. “Buzz,” he explained. “Buzz Nirdla.”

 He stuffed a bunch of ‘Critters Spaghetti’ into his mouth while he talked.

  “So, what are you guys gonna be again?” I asked, trying to put my mind on more cheerful things than the figure, such as Freddy Krueger and the Grim Reaper.

  “Vampire,” Brad said, showing off his teeth that were now stained by the punch. I know he was trying to make it look like he drank blood and all, to enforce the ‘Dracula’ affect, but all I saw was bad oral hygiene.

  “Mummy!” Francis held up a roll of toilet paper.

  “An astronaut,” Buzz grunted, sipping his ‘Witch Cauldron Milkshake’.

  “Chupacabra!” Diablo Sanchez announced, sprinkling pepper flakes onto his ‘Will-O-the-Wisp toasted bread’.

  “A fire demon!” Terrence declared, squirting lemon into his ‘Hot Were-Dog’.

  “Mmm.” Richie muttered glumly, staring into the soulless eyes of his ‘Skello-Pretzels’.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I asked, trying to squeeze the answer out of him. I wondered what his punishment was, and how horrible Metallicus could be.

  “Maybe he can’t go trick-or-treating?” Diablo Sanchez suggested, popping some ‘Dracula Fang Candy Corn’ into his mouth.

  “We already thought that, Dummy,” Terrence spat.

  “Maybe he has to stay at the school and get candy from the teachers!” Buzz said.

  “That’s saying if what they’ll handing out is even candy at all!” Brad snickered.

  “He can only stay in town for like, ten minutes!” Francis declared.

  “There’s a lot of candy you can steal- er, _get,_ in ten minutes,” I pointed out.

  “Come on, Richie!” Terrence pestered. “We’re itchin’ ta know!”

 Richie glumly picked up his tray and walked over to a deserted table.

  “Wow, Metallicus must be even more evil than I thought to make Richie _that_ upset,” I admitted. “And considering my earlier opinions, that’s SAYING something!”

 I had to admit, even after a pretty crummy lunch, my stomach still felt content and I almost forgot about the being I saw.

 Almost.

 But even Jason and Norman Bates couldn’t put my mind off of him. As soon as I was finished, I left my tray on the table and left, telling Diablo Sanchez to clean it up for me.

  “Clean it up, will ya?” I had said.

  “But-” Diablo protested, but I didn’t care.

 I roamed the hallway, checking the map Brad gave me earlier. I instantly made a beeline for one of my least favorite teachers, Coach Yelatem.


	6. I answer the toilet's final request

 By the time I arrived, the entire corridor leading into the gym was sealed off by a giant, yellow tarp, so I couldn’t see anything beyond, although I did see the silhouettes of Spirius Drones and heard tools clanking and working.

  “Uh, Coach Yelatem?” I yelled over the ruckus.

  “WHAT IS IT KID?!” Coach Yelatem roared, emerging from underneath the tarp. His entire body was covered in saw dust.

  “Um, well…” I said, trying to be as quick as possible. Somehow, I doubted Coach Yelatem would care about what I saw and just go back to his work.

  “GET ON WITH IT!!!” he roared, making my ears ring as if someone slammed some cymbals right next to them.

  “While I was looking out the balcony during lunch, I saw some bandaged person outside looking at me!” I blurted as quickly as possible.

 Yelatem stared.

  “WHAT?!” he snarled. “YOU INTERRUPT ME ‘CUZ TREXDIS WAS OUTSIDE, PRANCING AROUND?!”

  “No!” I explained hastily. “No, this guy had a different kind of frame, and they had this big crystal eye-”

  “DON’T CARE!” Coach Yelatem declared, heading back into the tarp. “PROBABLY SOME STUPID HIKER CELEBRATIN’ HALLOWEEN EARLY!”

 Even as he left me, I realized it was actually a pretty decent explanation for someone like coach Yelatem. Then again, hikers don’t jump off cliffs, and this guy seemed tobe staring _specifically_ at me… hopefully, I was just being paranoid.

 I wanted to shake off the matter and actually listen to Coach Yelatem for once, but I felt that wouldn’t work out, because every time you see someone suspicious looking at you, he, she, or it will without a doubt end up being trouble.

 I looked back at my map as I left, trying to look for the nearest classroom. Being my luck, it ended up being another of my least favorite teachers; Metallicus.

 But whether it be fate or just pure luck, I didn’t even have to go there, because I encountered Vaidd Scors along the way.

  “Hey, Mr. Scors!” I said. Mr. Scors paused, looking at me. “Yes, Mr. Garmadon?” he asked. I was relieved; he actually sounded like he WASN'T angry, which was a good sign he’d believe me.

  “Well, during lunch, I looked out of the balcony,” I began to tell him everything outright without hesitation. I even went ahead and ignored his uncharacteristic behavior when he and Coach Yelatem talked to each other that morning.

  “I saw, on some cliff, some guy covered in bandages –not Trexdis, by the way- with this crystal eye staring at me before he jumped off!”

 Mr. Scors stared at me for long enough, as if trying to see if I hadn’t gone cuckoo. He reached for his belt, and briefly touched something, but I couldn’t see it. As soon as he did, he nodded in relief.

  “All right then,” he told me. “I’ll go tell Metallicus.”

 I nodded, glad to get it out of the way. As he turned and went back the way he came, I left for Sprius-1’s room.

 But first I had to go, and boy did I regret it when I walked into the bathroom.

 Opening the door, I walked inside, ignoring the scraps of toilet paper and puddles of water littering the floor, with the whole place at least 50 degrees below zero. After opening the stall door, I locked it and swept away a bit of sandpaper- er, toilet paper on the seat and was about to sit down when a mass of water suddenly shot from the toilet, before landing back inside.

  _Great,_ I thought. _The plumbing must be stuck because of some moron who did it on purpose._

 But that wasn’t the case, and looking back, I wished it was.

 Because now the water began to slosh around, getting more agitated as some of it seeped over and splashed onto the floor. Now it was beginning to bubble rapidly, and I instantly began fumbling for the lock, not wanting to be around for when it exploded.

 But then, to my initial relief, the water suddenly shrank back into the toilet, completely disappearing and leaving it empty.

 Cautiously, I peered over the edge.

 Then it shot back out, practically exploding. I fell back into the door, bracing myself, but instead the water suddenly reared back, as if by the hand of some invisible leash.

 I stared as the mass of water, now towering over me, seemed to struggle against the invisible leash, frothing and splashing, soaking the floor and seeping through the bathroom stalls. It was chaotic, and I heard some strange gurgling coming from within.

 Then two long masses of water, like limbs, sprung out, grabbing the top of the stall and holding on for dear life, some of it seeping down the sides.

  “RRRUURRPP _MMMM!!!!_ ”

 I stared. Did the toilet water just… speak?

 Yes. The distinct gurgling was beginning to transition into actual words. As I watched, Two large, dinner plate-sized holes sunk back into the mass, like eyes, and its mid-section split open like a treasure chest, a flapping tongue of H2O splashing around the place.

  “HELP ME!!!”

 Its words were now intelligible, but they still sounded pretty, well… watery, pun unintended. Still, the toilet water seemed to be in legitimate distress, and I would’ve wanted someone to help me if _I_ had to live in a toilet for all eternity.

 So, bracing myself, I reached out and tried to grab him, but instead it just passed through like ordinary water. The H2O being, sensing a potential savior, suddenly lashed out with a third arm, wrapping around my arm.

 This time, the water felt solid, yet still somewhat fluid and inconsistent, like it couldn’t hold a proper form, and water began seeping up my sweater sleeve.

 Ignoring it, I tried to pull as hard as I could, and for a moment the H2O being almost moved nearly half a foot.

 But then the invisible leash tightened with pretty impressive enthusiasm, and it suddenly slid down the toilet, barely hanging on and struggling.

  “AH, confound it ALL!” it wailed. “CHILD, I must thank you, but it would take the strength of a thousand men to save me!”

 He suddenly slid down the toilet and barely heaved himself back up a few more inches.

  “LEAVE ME BE!!!” he yelled. “I can suffer… but my brethren! My fellow guardians!”

 He might’ve wrung his hands in despair, but unfortunately both were still grabbing onto the stall walls, so instead he formed two extra ones and did so with them.

  “It despairs me to know I failed to protect!” he despaired. “But now I must warn you before I go! Beware! They’ve escaped! All of them!”

  “Who?!” I demanded, wondering when the guy would get to the point. In all likelihood, he was wasting precious time and would probably go down the drain before he could tell me anything of real importance. But then again, I decided to let him lament anyway, because he sounded pretty sad and regretful.

  “THE PRISONERS!” the H2O being grunted as the stall walls began to groan from the strain. “THE TOWER OF TEARS!!!”

 He groaned. “BEWARE!” he warned me. “THE DARK LORD AND THE FOUR-ARMED REAPER!!!” With that, he suddenly eased just a little bit. “My duty has been done!” he declared, his fingers slipping. “I… AM… PROUD TO HAVE SUCCEEDED!!!”

 And with that, his fingers lost their grip. The invisible leash yanked back with such force it would’ve torn apart any normal person, but this guy was made of water. With a terrible wail, he slurped right back down into the toilet, disappearing. There was one last horrible gurgle.

 I stood there, left arm soaking wet, terrified and shocked.

 A bubble popped from within the empty toilet.

  “MAN, you’ve got problems, Dude!” a voice said from the stall next to me.


	7. The Spider, Justin Timberlake, and Toilet Paper

 After using the bathroom (in a different stall, of course), I ran back to the janitor’s room, hardly even pausing to dry my sleeve.

 So many freakish things had just happened to me on my SECOND day already, and it wasn’t even Halloween! First, some crystal-eyed mummy, and then talking toilet water!

 I stopped for a moment, wondering if I had gone insane during the past few days.

 By the time I opened the doors to the janitor’s room, Spirius-1 was working pretty heavily on my costume, and most of it was finished, looking pretty good.

  “Ah, hello, Mr. Garmadon,” Spirius-1 chirped, nodding in my direction. “What is with the wet sleeve?”

 I sat down, tired of all this random stuff going on. Couldn’t I at least wait a whole day before another conspiracy event happened to me?

  “I saw a crystal-eyed mummy during lunch, and then later on some toilet water talked to me.” I said bluntly, too bored of repeating my experiences to elaborate.

  Spirius-1 stared at me, trying to see if I was being sarcastic.

 I sighed. “Okay, here’s the whole story,” I told him, and I began going on about how the being stalked me during lunch before disappearing, Coach Yelatem’s comment, Mr. Scors, and the H2O being. Spirius-1 nodded, like he had an idea, but in reality he probably knew nothing at all.

 When I finally finished, Spirius-1 sat for a while, his data banks whirring in thought.

  “So it appears this Dark Lord and Four-armed Reaper –most obviously Samukai- have destroyed this Tower of Tears, which is apparently a prison,” he summarized. “And this water-like being has tried to warn you…”

  “And I think my bandaged little friend here might be one of these ‘escapees’ he mentioned,” I concluded.

  “But you said in your first dream that the Dark Lord didn’t want to harm you,” Spirius-1 pointed out. “But here, he and Samukai have destroyed the Tower of Tears and let loose several escapees who most likely intend to harm you in every way,”

 I shrugged. “Like I said, it sounded like I was important, like maybe they needed me alive. Maybe the Dark Lord and Samukai made a deal with these escapees to capture me. All the mummy guy did was stalk me. All kidnappers do that.”

 Spirius-1 seemed to like that idea. “Yes…” he agreed. “Well, I’ll go tell the others-”

  “Um, don’t…” I interrupted. When Spirius-1 glanced at me, I sighed.

  “I have this weird hunch that my first nightmare and this experience with the water dude, not to mention all this talk about a ‘Tower of Tears’ is really important, especially since they’re connected. It sounds like this Dark Lord and Samukai are serious trouble for Draik, if they want to get me. I feel like this kind of information, could, well…”

  “Be used for a bargain?” Spirius-1 might as well have grinned if he had a mouth. “Very cunning, Mr. Garmadon. I’m glad of that- You will need all your wits to become the servant Draik intends you to be.”

 I probably, under normal circumstances, would’ve been cheered up by this, but in normal circumstances the praise won’t come from a robotic spider janitor (unless you have a really, REALLY weird life like mine, which I hope you don’t). After all, I didn’t exactly want to be Draik’s ‘servant’; It was all a part of a deal my mom made with him and this Darkley dude (who I’m pretty sure is dead now) to keep me safe.

 Safe.

 I could’ve laughed at that idea, being safe in Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys, but first we had to finish my costume. The stress of all these things that were happening to me recently was making a holiday like Halloween seem really minor, even if it was only a few hours away.

  “Well, let’s get start finishing my costume,” I muttered. “And by the way, Spirius-1- it’s okay if you tell Trexdis about my nightmares and all that other stuff, too. You and her are the only ones I feel I can actually trust.”

 This seemed to touch Spirius-1, despite his cold, hard, robotic exterior. “Of course, Mr. Garmadon.” He replied.

 We continued on my costume. I have to admit, it was forming really well, although I still think Spirius-1 would’ve done better than me at everything. Still, it was cool to see something this awesome, and even better to know I had a decent hand in making it.

 

 It was finally finished.

 My entire costume, in all its entirety, resembled a spider that was colored a deep black, with purple here and there… if spiders could be the size of a short adult.

 But seriously. It was pretty wicked. It was made of nylon, wrapped around a frame made of metal wires, with cardboard and Styrofoam acting as a sort of ‘stuffing’. The first part, the head, had awesome evil-looking purple eyes and fangs, and the bottom was hollowed out so I could wear it like a cap over my entire head. The rest of the body was attached pretty sturdily to the back of the head, with a giant abdomen with a violet skull painted on and several spider legs sticking out. The body hung off the back of my head, so if I moved too much it kind of swayed, but I didn’t care. Heck, if I crouched just right, I could look like an actual spider!

  “AWESOME!” Spirius-1 and I hi-fived each other when I tried it out.

  “Well, Mr. Lloyd,” Spirius-1 declared proudly. “It’s almost dinner, so why don’t you show it off to your friends now, hmm? They’re most likely trying theirs out right now.”

 I grinned. “Sure.” I said. “Why not?”

 Putting on my spider costume, I thanked Spirius-1 at least a million times. Well, not really- I thanked him a BILLION times.

 I tried crouching the entire way back, but it got tiring so I just walked normally. Finally, when I got to the dorm room I opened it and entered inside.

 Everyone was talking to each other, showing off their costumes. Several sorcerers, skeletons, demons, and at least one can of Diet Coke were all chatting to each other, faces not so concealed.

 A few people had noticed my costume.

  “Hey, nice!” a blob with ghastly features, who I recognized as AT (Alien Theory), the guy who was obsessed with aliens, told me.

  “You made that TODAY?!” a giant rubber snake exclaimed in disbelief.

  “Nigh, Wwoy!” I turned around and saw Brad, who now had white powder all over his face, giving him a fake, pale look. His shaggy hair was slightly combed in an attempt to make a Dracula hairstyle, but all he got was a sort of Justin Timberlake. He wore his plastic fangs, and a little tux with a red cape that was made of cheap fabric.

 Next to him was Francis, who was wrapped head-to-toe in toilet paper, although it was all pretty loose and torn already. Buzz was there as well, with a plastic helmet that looked like a goldfish bowl over his head, with a really tight, bulky white suit. Diablo Sanchez wore a shriveled-looking rubber mask, which actually enforced the affect, but the rest of his costume was basically a painted, leather jumpsuit with an obvious zipper on the back.

  “Hey,” I muttered. “Where’s Richie?”

 Brad shrugged, spitting out his plastic teeth. “Under the covers.”

  “It’s almost dinner,” AT pointed out, revealing his arm to look at his Star Fare watch. “He better get dressed soon!”

  “Who’s he again?” I whispered to Brad out of the corner of my mouth.

 Brad rolled his eyes. “Todd,” he replied.

 I nodded. “Couldn’t agree with ya, Todd.” I said.

 ‘Todd’ looked at me funny. “My name’s Seamus. Am I really that hard to recognize in this costume?” Seamus’ costume was an oil-black tarp with a purple face painted on, with a bunch of pillows strapped to him underneath to make him look less humanoid.

 I shot Brad a venomous glare, and all I got was a grin.

 Finn walked up to us. His costume, I have to (begrudgingly) admit, was one of the best ones, with an awesome, cracked skull mask. He wore a legitimately worn-out black cloak over his entire body, hood up, and he carried around a crooked, wooden scythe. The only flaw was the plastic blade.

 When he caught us looking at it, he snapped, “I wasn’t allowed to use REAL metal, dweebs!”

  “Sure,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. Luckily, my costume hid them, but I found out Finn didn’t need any prompting to insult anyone.

  “You guys look stupid,” he sneered. “Brad, you’re wearing makeup, you look like you wanted to be a goldfish, Buzz, Seamus is wearing a stupid blanket, Diablo looks like some hag, Lloyd looks like he’s being eaten alive, and Francis is basically a roll of toilet paper!”

 The remarks made the blood rush to my face, and I began to get mad. However, Brad just shrugged coolly. “Okay, then,” he replied smoothly. “Well, you’re the Top-Bully, so who’s to say our costumes will be even close to yours, much less better?”

 I didn’t exactly like the idea of bowing down to Finn. Diablo, Seamus, and Buzz cowered a bit, and Francis continued grinning like a moron.

 Finn yawned. “Well, see ya, Losers.” He promptly left.

  “What a jerk,” I muttered. “If I could-”

  “You look good, guys,” a voice said behind us.

 We turned to see two figures; one was Terrence, wearing an awesome costume consisting of an orange and red jumpsuit, with a plastic, translucent flames all over his body and armor made of rocks everywhere. Wicked.

 Finally, next to him was Two, a kid with smooth, brown hair, ocean-blue eyes, and a brooding look. He was dressed in a pretty authentic Phantom-of-the-opera costume, with a stark-white mask and a black top hat. I have to admit, while Diablo, Terrence, Finn, and Two’s costumes were, admittedly, certainly better than mine, Two’s took the prize.

   “Aha!” Two declared triumphantly, swishing his cape dramatically. “This will certainly be a most entertaining night of epic proportions!”

  “Epic, Felix?” the snake with arms walked back to us, and I now recognized him as Stringy, a kid with a mop of spaghetti-like hair and a crop of zits all over his face. His costume was no more than a giant, rubber python with his face sticking out, as if it ate him. With his arms all covered up, only his hands were visible, bound to his waist in a pretty uncomfortable fashion.

 Felix, obviously the actual name of Two, rolled his eyes. “Of course, Lupus!” he snapped. He made another dramatic swish of his cape. “Don’t you guys understand literature? Does anyone here even have a decent vocabulary?!”

  “What a silly question, of course!” a snobby, nerdy voice announced smugly.

  Behind us was Gene, a kid with orange, wavy hair, and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses with inch-thick lens. Gene was Metallicus’ overall favorite, the nerd to end all nerds, and a total teacher’s pet. And the voice and smug look on his face didn’t really help, either.

 Gene was now dressed in a cardboard robot costume, with a giant gray box with a little panels and buttons drawn on it covering his entire body, limbs sticking out and covered in silver robo-arms. His mask basically consisted of a slab of cardboard with eyeholes cut out, and caged mouth. Gray boxes covered his feet instead of shoes.

  “And so, the whole troupe together, including the Search Gang,” Felix said dramatically. “We depart like a rushing wind to the cafeteria!”

  “Does he always talk like this?” I asked Brad.

  “Sadly, yes.”

  “Well, let’s go now,” I decided. I was still wondering about Richie, and I kind of felt bad for him, but tonight was already so awesome I didn’t care.

 The nine of us left the dorm, and like some deformed monster group, headed towards the cafeteria in an excited buzz, as if we were all heading to some evil convention.


	8. The Headless Horseman ends our Food Fight

 By the time we arrived in the cafeteria, all sorts of hubbub was going down. It was nighttime outside, and orange and yellow lights lit up the place. The food was the same, basically consisting of micro-waved leftovers, but I didn’t care.

 Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the teachers, save for Draik, who was on some sort of vacation (the image of Draik sitting out on some lawn chair, dressed casually and sipping out of a little parasol-cup on a sunny beach, entered my head). Coach Yelatem was basically covered head-to-toe in green facepaint, with stitches painted here and there. He wore a ragged brown coat and pants, with a torn white shirt underneath. Instead of his ordinary helmet, he now wore one shaped like Frankenstein’s bulging forehead, screws and all.

 Scors now wore a pirate hat and coat, with an eyepatch and fake hook and peg leg. Standing on his shoulder limply was either a fake parrot or a near-dead one. Trexdis was dressed as a pharaoh, so she resembled a mummy even more. Arakchos was dressed like an evil witch, with a hat, broomstick, and a cloak slung over her spider-like body. Metallicus was dressed like the headless horseman, with a Spirius Drone that looked like a mechanical version of his steed standing nearby. His cape was now red, and he held his helmet on the table, with his head having disappeared entirely, which was pretty cool. Frared was the same, which made sense.

 After getting our lunch, the nine of us sat our table and began to eat, discussing Halloween.

  “Man, this is gonna be SWEET!!!” Brad declared. “And thanks to my little map here-” He held up his paper map. “-We’re going to achieve maximum candy tonight!”

 Lupus tried to pick up his fork, but unfortunately his hands were stuck to his sides, and his costume was too tight to remove without ripping off at least ten layers of skin. “Hey, can, uh, someone, like, feed me?” he asked awkwardly.

  “Hey, I heard from the teachers that Draik’s goes on vacation every Halloween since he hates it,” I mentioned.

 Terrence frowned. “While he does disappear every Halloween,” he admitted. “He always seems kind of nervous, not excited, since he’s going to probably visit someplace like the Hahunas.”

 Buzz shrugged, stuffing himself. “Who cares? I’d be glad if yesterday was the last time I ever saw him!”

  “Maybe his plane will crash,” Diablo said hopefully.

  “Or he’ll get eaten by sharks while swimming!” Seamus added.

  “Well, they’re all hopes that are too good to be true,” Felix admitted. “But let us toast to these wonderful scenarios!”

 We all toasted, even Gene, who was normally the teacher’s pet. Maybe he only liked Metallicus, and not our principal.

 Several minutes later, just as we were finishing dinner and eating desert, ranging from Jack-O-Lantern pie to Ghost Cake, Metallicus and Frared came onto stage.

  “Ahem,” Frared announced, speaking into the microphone. He seemed pretty nervous, as if he was bracing himself for something.

  “As you may know, this is a great Halloween, and we all want to make each year the best one ever!”

  “Get on with it!” someone yelled from the audience.

  “Two homework sheets for you,” Metallicus retorted with relish.

  “Right,” Frared continued, clearing his throat. “Anyway, today, we have done plenty to make this one just as good, if not better, than the last years.”

 Now he was beginning to sweat, terrified. “Due to certain, ah… _complications_ and technical difficulties…”

  “Come on, old friend,” Metallicus muttered to him, holding his helmet between his arm. “Get on with it.”

  “So today… because of this, I am afraid we will have Halloween… at Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys ONLY.”

 Silence.

 And then outrage.

 Everyone began screaming and yelling, declaring it was the end of the world. Food flew everywhere, pandemonium arose as the children cried for their holiday freedom. Outrage was engulfing the whole place. Heck, I even joined in, helping lead my friends as we pelted the enemy with marshmallows. Even the Spirius Drones threw a few, with Spirius-$ declaring, “DARKLEY TEA PARTY!!!” and tossing around tea packets.

 Finally, Metallicus, who stood in the midst of all this violent chaos, trembled in raw anger. For some strange reason, not a single speck of food had touched him. Frared… he wasn’t so lucky.

  “ENOUGH!!!!!!!!”

 The whole cafeteria echoed with Metallicus’ fury. Everyone stopped, terrified, and began hoping Metallicus hadn’t seen them throw _that_ particular clove of garlic or tomato sauce.

 Silence was everywhere as Metallicus stood where he was, defiant and furious. Next to him was Frared, who was covered head-to-toe in cotton candy, pie, cakes, deserts, stew, cheese, meat, pasta, condiments, the works. Heck, I even saw Brad’s plastic teeth hanging at the end of his chin, glued there by his own spit.

 Gross.

 Metallicus seethed for a few more seconds, before calming down. “Ahem,” he muttered, still keeping that evil calmness of his. “Here’s what will happen; After dinner, us teachers-”

 He gestured to him and the others.

  “-Shall go to our classroom doors and set up the area. There, we will pass out candy.”

 Mr. Frared cleared his throat. “Ah, yes!” he said excitedly, cleaning the mashed potatoes out of his glasses. “There are some rooms that also pass out candy, but which ones is yet to be seen! Find the hidden rooms, and you’ll get a bonus!”

 No one seemed impressed, not even the other teachers.

 “Oh, and make sure to drop by _my_ classroom!” Frared added, winking at us. “I’ve got a little trick rigged up- Oh, but make sure no one else knows!” He said it as if he was just talking to a few people at a time, and not the entire school. Heck, as far as I knew, DRAIK was the only one who didn’t know!

 Metallicus nodded. “Well, we’ll be going to our classrooms now. I would tell you that I hope you’d have a ‘Good Halloween’, but I’d be lying, wouldn’t I?”

 He and Frared walked away from the stage, joining the teachers.

 “Great,” Terrence groaned. “I spent the ENTIRE month making this thing, cutting up the plastic, making the rubber not look cheesy, and now the only other people who get to see it are those losers!”

 “I wasted a perfectly good pair of plastic fangs on Mr. Frared, too.” Brad added grudgingly.

 “That was pretty funny,” I admitted, but my mind was on other things now.

 Technical difficulties? Yeah, right. I thought of the Tower of Tears, and how the H2O being warned me that everyone in there was on the loose. I didn’t know where this Tower was, but distance didn’t matter because there was already my crystal-eyed mummy friend stalking me.

 Still, part of me wondered; if Metallicus knew of the whole Tower of Tears breakout, then my theory all about it was useless. Then again, I wasn’t sure how I would use it to my advantage.

  _He still doesn’t know about the Dark Lord and Samukai,_ a voice in the back of my head pointed out. Metallicus could be interested in who’s responsible for ruining Halloween; not that he’d care, but because of what else they might do.

 As the rest of us sat up, grabbing several bags with the Darkley insignia on the front from a cafeteria rack, I began to wonder in just what situation I would ‘bargain’ my knowledge with? I mean, surely Darkley’s was safe-

 Of course.

 Safe.

 Frared, the product of a normally fatal spell; Trexdis, a Mirror World lab rat; Arakchos, a sadist cyborg; Metallicus, the descendant of criminal ninja; Yelatem, a berserk boxer; and Scors, a lawyer who could cover up the awfulness of this place and protect it legally from any government or police.

 Safe, my butt.

 Just as everyone was about to leave, the doors suddenly swung open.

 Standing there was Richie, but something was off.

 Now, he wore an enormous, frilly tutu. He wore ballet shoes, with a pink little dress. He wore a yellow plastic crown, and carried in his sweaty palms a fake wand.

 Richie Rich was dressed up as a ballerina princess for Halloween.

 Everyone just stared. My brain short-circuited COMPLETELY, unable to process any ‘appropriate’ responses. Only Metallicus didn’t seem surprised, and all of a sudden everything made sense.

 Everyone began to laugh hysterically. Spirius-2, 3, and $ rolled around in their own cooking, chirping and fizzing from the sheer overload of the hilarity. Kids fell on their faces, sputtering through whatever food they landed on. Yelatem roared with laughter, and when I mean roared, he ROARED like a lion, blasting ear drums as if he were some animal.

 Heck, I could’ve sworn even METALLICUS made some weird snorting noise, like he was trying not to laugh!

 It was hilarious. I know, I know, I’m being a jerk and all, but Richie Rich, son of an evil, corrupt Billionaire, dressed up like this? Gold. Just gold.

 “Shut up.” Richie said through gritted teeth, giving us such a scathing glare it would’ve vaporized a tank.


	9. Mystery Kid risks dismemberment for Candy Bars

 “…and we will never, EVER speak of this again, got it?”

 The ten of us were strolling through the hallways, constantly talking about Richie’s punishment and laughing over it. Now Richie was making us swear not to ever speak of this incident ever again as soon as Halloween was over.

 “Kay, got it, R-Man.” Lupus agreed, hiding his hands as he crossed his fingers. Or at least, he _tried_ to hide them. His arms couldn’t move an inch, and he kept tripping and landing on his face, with Francis dragging him back up.

 “Man, Metallicus is even MORE evil than I thought!” I admitted, chuckling. “And considering my earlier opinion of him prior to all this, that’s REALLY saying something!”

 “I just can’t believe Metallicus made you wear this during Halloween as a punishment!” Seamus snorted. “I mean, I know the Hazers from Star Fare were pretty evil, but this takes the cake!”

 “Speaking of cake, I can’t wait to chow down on candy!” Buzz declared, practically drooling.

 “I’m itching to get Twizzlers,” Diablo said. “What about you guys?”

 “I’d like some sugar sticks, but can someone hold them for me while I eat them?” Lupus asked. “My hands are kind of busy… or not. Sorta.”

 “Hey, mind if I join your group?”

 The ten of us looked back to see a kid coming to us, wearing the most awesome costume of all time.

 Now, to be exact, it was extremely, well… legit. His ‘head’ was shaped like a wedge, with circular, glassy eyes on the sides that blazed with blue lightning. A cluster of blades stuck out of the back of his head.

 His torso was covered entirely in several armor segments, with stubby little armored feet. His arms were completely covered in plated metal, even his hands, but in between his limbs, neck, and other areas, blazed what looked like authentic electricity. His four polygonal insect wings, sticking out of his back, were the same as well.

 “WHOA.”

 Francis looked like his brain was about to explode from pure awesomeness.

 “Such… such entrancing detail!” Felix declared. “It’s stupefying! I’d try to give other spectacular words to describe it, but this exceeds even MY vocabulary!”

 “It’s a masterpiece,” Gene admitted. “The armor could actually been done, but with a price, but that lighting is fantastic!”

 The kid shrugged. “If I tell you my secrets, everyone else’s costumes will be as good!”

 “Hey, what’s your name?” I asked, entranced by the sheer cool factor. “How come we didn’t see you at the cafeteria?”

 “I’m Nikon,” the kid explained. “I was busy putting the last touches on my costume while you guys were eating dinner.”

 Nikon was a pretty shrimpy kid, just as tall as Diablo and Seamus, if only a little more, and his feet were an almost cartoony shape. I wasn’t sure who Nikon was, and even the others didn’t seem to recognize him.

 “Nikon, eh?” Brad muttered thoughtfully. “I don’t remember a kid name Nikon… oh well then, hide your identity and all that. There are like, a hundred other fellow students I don’t recognize, so why not?”

 Nikon nodded, dragging his bag with him. Considering how big it was, and how small he was, it was a pretty hilarious sight to look at.

 I took out the map Brad gave me this morning and unfolded it. At first, it made me look like that stupid new kid who couldn’t even make his way to the bathroom. Now, I was the guy who was leading his friends to get as much candy in one night as possible.

 “Let’s see…” I muttered to myself, scratching my head. “The closest classroom is Coach Yelatem’s… but I wouldn’t go there if it was the last source of candy on the planet! Well, maybe not, but STILL!”

 “Let’s go to Mr. Scors’ place!” Brad suggested, looking over my shoulder. The eleven of us all cheered in unison.

 

 Scors was hanging by his office, handing out Laffy Taffy from an orange, peeling plastic bucket. Two large, glass windows showed the contents of his workplace; a wooden desk, several laptops and computers, notes, papers, and several pencils and pens. It reminded me of a standard principal’s office, which made me wonder what Draik’s looked like.

 Accompanying Scors was a robot. This one was about the size of a dachshund, shaped like a 2-inch wide cylinder, with a little cluster of machinery at the bottom that let it float. Floating above a little nook at the top was a ball of light that glowed a ghastly green, with two slit-like eyes. A wire spiraled around its body, and several screens made of light floated around it, glowing a bit too harshly. I wondered if they were safe to touch.

 “Who’s that?” I asked Brad.

 “Spirius-6,” Brad replied, not really interested. “Remember what I said yesterday? 4 deals with tech and the energy, 5 maintains the computer lab, 6 helps Scors, 7 and 8 are assistants, 9’s a scout, and 10’s the dude who gets runaways.”

 “Quite the magnificent design,” Gene noted. I shrugged. My life had gotten so weird yesterday that a levitating robot seemed pretty mild.

 Terrence reached for a Laffy Taffy, but Scors held it back. “Forgetting tradition, are we?” Scors tut-tutted.

 Terrence rolled his eyes. “Trick-or-treat,” he muttered glumly, wanting to get this out of the way as soon as possible. I had an instinct that the feeling was mutual with Scors.

 “Trick-or-treat,” the rest of us said in dull, drone-like synchronization. Scors began handing out several Laffy Taffies, most of us getting the really bad flavors. And the jokes on the wrappers were just as horrendous.

 Scors paused when he handed Nikon his candy. “Interesting costume….” Scors muttered in a weird, half-dazed tone, as if he were trying to remember something. He shook his head. “Whatever,” he grunted.

 “Have a happy Halloween!” Spirius-6 told us. 6 had a mechanical, female voice like a child's.

 A kid wearing a ridiculously shaggy brown wig, face-paints, and fake fangs came up to us, obviously a werewolf. The costume made me glad I didn’t choose the same thing as him.

 “DUDES!” he yelled in a surfer-like accent. “You should check out the Hall of Pain!”

 I stared at him. “You’re joking, right?” I asked.

 The werewolf shook his head. “No!” he insisted. “It’s at the hallway, right next to the gym!”

 He immediately ran off. “Seems worth a try,” Felix suggested. I shrugged. Why not?

 The eleven of us headed straight towards the gym. I vaguely remembered seeing a bunch of construction equipment there when I told Yelatem about the crystal-eyed mummy dude. With all the noises and shouting, I could only wonder just what he did.

 We finally turned left and found ourselves face-to-face with the Hall of Pain. A few other kids, including the werewolf, were there, chattering excitedly and peering into it.

 “No way.”

 Ringing the entrance was a bunch of barbed wire, but for safety reasons, plastic cases were built over them. Beyond that was, to my completely shock, a bunch of giant, razor-sharp axes swinging at different speeds and motions, hanging from the ceiling. I couldn’t see much beyond that, but I swore I saw an orange light, like fire.

 The eleven of us just stared, eyes bulging and jaws practically touching the floor (well, not really, but you get the idea). It was just… well… _impossible_. A Hall of Pain like THIS, in a SCHOOL?!

 I wondered how this was even remotely safe, until I remembered who ran the school.

 “I can’t believe Draik actually let Yelatem add AXES!” Diablo gaped. “AXES!” he waved his hands in the air for unnecessary emphasis.

 “Legend has it,” a kid dressed like Lou, the leader of the Royal Blacksmiths, told us. “That at the end of the Hall of Pain, at the end of each life-threatening trap of terror, inside the gym, is Coach Yelatem, guarding a mountain of Super-nougat Coco Marshmallow bars with Xtra caramel and coconut, and that if you make it there, he’ll hand you an entire BOX of them!”

 I glanced at the sign nearby that said the exact same thing. “No duh, Sherlock.” I muttered sarcastically. Still, the prize sounded awesome. An entire BOX of Super-nougat Cocoa Marshmallow bars with Xtra caramel and coconut? Sing me in! Of course, I didn’t want to become swiss cheese in those axes, though…

 “An entire box…” Richie muttered in a dreamy tone.

 “My sweet tooth cries for Super-nougat Cocoa marshma- ah, you get the idea!” Felix cried, sniffing the air.

 “Did anyone go in?” Richie asked. Another kid, basically a white blanket with a ghost face thrown on himself, shook his head. “Just one, Kyle Germa, and by the fourth axe he got a new haircut!”

 He and the others laughed, but instantly stopped when someone else joined them.

 The back of my neck tingled as I felt a new presence I despised arrive.

 Turning around, I found myself face-to-face with the Grim Reaper… or someone just as bad as him; Finn Ayabbers.

 Finn’s ugly face grinned behind his skull mask. “You guys are wimps!” he sneered, gesturing to the Hall of Pain. “I bet none of you except Kyle tried at all!”

 I decided not to say anything. I didn’t want to insult Finn, get into a fight, and maybe forced to go down the Hall of Pain. I had to admit, an entire box of Super-Nougat Cocoa –ah, you get the idea- didn’t seem worth the trouble. I vaguely wondered if I WAS scared, in the slightest bit, but I shook it off.

 Nikon’s costume suddenly flared, and the other kids began to notice just how awesome it was. Even Finn raised an eye or two at it.

 “You’re one to speak,” Nikon challenged. “You yourself haven’t gone down the Hall!”

 Finn growled like a rottweiler, and all of us instinctively backed away, except Nikon. He held his ground, smirking at Finn, practically amused, as if the two had suddenly switched places.

 “I’ve already shown MY awesomeness by being the Top Bully!” Finn snarled. “Who are you, anyway?!” Nikon nodded. “The name’s Nikon,” he announced, as if it was some honorable title.

 Finn snorted. “Never heard of ya,” he grumbled. “Doesn’t give YOU the right to call me out!”

 Nikon shrugged smoothly. “You want me to try?” he asked, gesturing to the Hall of Pain. Everyone of us stared in shock.

 “Hey, Nikon, dude,” Seamus muttered. “Just saying, but this might be suicide. Why don’t you just back down-”

 Seamus immediately faltered when Nikon glared at him. Something flashed in his eyes; Some sort of emotion, incredibly fierce and murderous, just daring Seamus to try.

 Seamus didn’t.

 Nikon suddenly calmed down. “Well, what do you say?” he dared Finn.

 Finn seemed surprised, but nodded, eager to see Nikon get humiliated. “Let’s see you try to make a name out of yourself!” he snarled, grinning nastily.

 Nikon shrugged, completely confident, and suddenly shot forward, easily swerving throughout the obstacles with incredible speed and ease. By the time we blinked, he was past the axes and had disappeared, a yellow streak of light indicating where he was.

 A few minutes finally passed, and suddenly a passage in the wall next to us opened, revealing Nikon, smirking smugly, holding an entire cardboad box filled to the brim with Super-nougat- ah, never mind.

 “Whoa,” Francis muttered. “Secret passage!”

 Finn stared, sputtering in disbelief. “That-that’s impossible!” he blurted out. Nikon sneered. “How _pathetic_ ,” he sneered, and for a chilling moment he radiated an aura of menace.

 But then it went away, and he dropped the box. “You guys can have some,” he announced. “Even you, Finn- so it’s easier for you to lick your wounds.”

 Ow.

 “BURN!!!” Brad chuckled. Finn snarled, his face going as red as his hair. For a moment, he stumbled around with his words, trying to think a snappier comeback. But he couldn’t.

 Finn fumed, and his expression would’ve been even funnier if steam blew out of his ears. He refused to take any of the bars while the rest of us swarmed like bees to honey. Finn wasn’t a total moron, and he wouldn’t carelessly sacrifice his own dignity like that. For a moment, I almost respected him for that.

 But then I shrugged it off.

 “Hi-five, man!” Richie said, forgetting about his ridiculous costume for a moment. Nikon returned it, laughing in triumph.

 Finn snorted. “Whatever, loser,” he muttered, turning his back on him. “You should get a bit taller, anyway.”

 It was a desperate, last-ditch insult. I wouldn’t have been angered. But Nikon; he was.

 In a flash, he suddenly lashed forward, getting in Finn’s way and pointing his talons at his heart. “For someone of your size,” he snarled. “You’re slow.”

 Finn stepped back, surprised. Then, he scowled and the tips of long, thin, needles appeared out from underneath his fingernails. As I mentioned earlier, he was the son of a mutant, so he was one too. His venom wouldn’t work on living things, but those nails looked pretty sharp.

 Luckily, Brad stepped in and stopped any confrontation. “Relax, guys,” he said smoothly, flashing a confident smile. “Finn, you wouldn’t take out the nails over such a simple matter over being proven wrong on an overall fair assumption, right?”

 He glanced at Nikon. “And besides, Finn’s just exercising his privileges as the top bully! Now, let’s not waste time fighting, and do something much profitable; Trick-or-treating!”

 Finn and Nikon mulled over his words. Finally, Finn grunted and nodded. “I guess…” he said slowly. Resuming his ordinary, arrogant mood, he left us. “Well, see ya, dweebs!”

 Nikon shrugged. “Sure, why not? Now, let’s go!”

 As we left, I walked up to Brad. “Nice work, man!” I congratulated. Brad grinned. “Sometimes,” he replied, cracking his knuckles. “All you gotta do is flash a smile and work your wits a bit, eh?”

 Seeing Brad act so cool and confident, to the point where he got even Finn and Nikon to listen to him, made me glad to be his friend. Such a popular kid could’ve hung out with Finn, but instead he stuck around with us guys.


	10. Our Math Teacher brainwashed an Apex Predator

 We saw the trap immediately.

 Frared was passing out Tootsie Pops, each one the size of a baseball. My mouth watered at the idea of sucking on that sweet, sugary cover, and then gnawing lovingly at the soft, chewy core-

 “Hey, Lloyd!” Brad snapped his fingers, getting me out of my trance.

 Right. Frared immediately brightened at the sight of us, and suddenly stepped back into the classroom. “Hey, there, my favorite class!” he yelled. A thing you should know; Frared was our homeroom teacher. “Why don’t you come in!” he gestured towards us.

 All of us immediately noticed the clearly visible trip wire.

 “Yeah, right,” Terrence sneered. Frared suddenly stammered, realizing he was caught. “Um, well… my basket is beginning to get empty, and I’ve got more Tootsie Pops in the closet!”

 While his basket WAS beginning to get empty, it was still an obvious lie.

 Brad suddenly had an idea. “Hey, Mr. Frared!” he yelled, suddenly panicking. “Someone’s painting a bad word on the wall!!!”

 Frared suddenly panicked. “GAH!” he screamed. Snatching a mop, he immediately ran forward… and tripped on the wire. A giant bucket of water appeared, pouring all over Frared.

 “AAAAAGGHHH!!!!” Frared slipped and slid, landing on his butt. Wiping his yes, he stumbled to his feet. “Now, THAT was a naughty trick!” he complained, glaring at Brad. “Mr. Tudabone, you should set an example!”

  _It’s a Boarding School for Bad Boys,_ I thought to myself. _What do you mean by ‘example’?_

 Frared shook his head. “Never mind,” he admitted. “You win! Here, come get your treats!”

 All of us except Nikon stepped forward… and then a trapdoor sprung open.

 “GGGWWWWWOOOOOAAARRRR!!!!!!”

 A leopard-sized, giant reptile suddenly leapt out. It was lithe, lean, and muscular, with enormous saber-tooth fangs and wicked talons. Its eyes were snapped shut, little more than slits, with flaring nostrils. It had a crown-like shield at the back of its head, rimmed with spikes, like a Triceratops, but much smaller. Spines ran down its back, and it had a long, whip-like tail with a horn at the end.

 I recognized it as a Bone Eater, a reptilian carnivore that hunted animals, but only ate their bones and the marrow inside. Because of this, scavengers constantly followed them, glad to get all the good stuff.

 But I didn’t care. We were now facing a giant, reptilian predator with no mercy and completely viciousness on the side.

 It roared, and we all screamed our lungs out, tripping over each other and falling against the wall. Only Nikon didn’t react.

 Mr. Frared laughed his head off. “OHO, I win the day this time!” he gloated. I now noticed that there was something on top of its head, clutching the Bone Eater’s skull tightly.

 It resembled a small, mechanical spider, about the size of a dinner plate. It had four, stubby, little legs, with claws at the end. It head two eyes instead of eight, and unlike the Spirius robots, it was colored a metallic gray, with red glowing within. And, I know it’s weird and all, but I thought it was kind of cute.

 Francis, being too dumb to fully register the fact that a vicious, man-eating predator was still in front of him, pointed at it. “What’s that?”

 Frared chuckled, patting his wet hand on it. “WHY, it’s a Mind Grappler, of course!” he explained, as if it explained everything.

 All of us blinked, except Nikon. Instead, he stepped forward, confident the Bone Eater wouldn’t attack. “What does it do?” he asked.

 “Ms. Arakchos invented them, see,” Frared explained. “Place them on a victim’s head, and they’re under total control! The more complex the victim’s mind, the less fluid the movements, but overall it’s great for the ultimate pranks!”

 Gene clapped enthusiastically. “Amazing, Mr. Frared!”

 I stared. I was still pale from the shock. I had to grudgingly admit, Mr. Frared really DID get us that time, which kind of ruined my day a bit. But hey, there were still more classrooms to check out!

 “Being the first ones to not run away,” Mr. Frared said proudly. “I’ll give you FIVE Tootsie Pops, instead of three each!”

 We hi-fived each other weakly. The prank still rattled us, and with good reason. Still, even as I chose my favorite flavors, I wondered how someone might use the Mind Grapplers. I had a fantasy of using them on my Coach Yelatem and Metallicus and having the two of them fight each other. Sadly, it was most likely impossible.

 “Who’s next, Lloyd?” Diablo asked me.

 I checked my map. “The nearest person is… Trexdis.” I nodded. Trexdis was my favorite teacher, the only one who actually cared for the others and me. Plus, I really needed to talk to her about the crystal-eyed mummy and the H2O being.

 

 In front of the door was a giant, golden sarcophagus.

 My first reaction; There’s a mummy. A mummy. I hope it doesn’t make everything stink.

 Richie, unlike the rest of us, just said, “Whoa, is that REAL GOLD?!”

 The sarcophagus door swung open, revealing Trexdis lying inside. Her arms were folded over her chest, and she suddenly went to life, climbing out.

 “Hey there, guys,” she said, waving at us. I liked how she actually seemed genuinely pleased to see us in a nice way, although I guess Frared, did too.

 “Nice one!” Terrence commented. Felix and Gene looked at it. “Astonishing detail,” Felix muttered, rubbing his finger along it.

 Trexdis handed us each a fat bag of Sour Patch Kids, one of my favorites.

 “Score!” Diablo yelled. Lupus already had sugar all over his fingers as he nibbled on a few, and Buzz looked like he was having trouble deciding which candy he should eat first.

 Seeing everyone act so friendly around Trexdis made me glad. With her there, the only way to get that full, ‘family’ kind of feeling was to have Spirius-1 and Juriyn there as well.

 As everyone began seeing how much they had so far, I walked over to Trexdis. “Hey, Trexdis,” I whispered. Trexdis nodded. “Yeah, kid?”

 I fiddled my thumbs. “Today, during Lunch…”

 Trexdis nodded. “I know,” she muttered. She hesitated, then added, “If you can, maybe you should meet me after Halloween, ‘kay?”

 Out of the corner of my eye, I swore I saw Gene and Nikon glancing at me. I remembered how I once tried to spy on a conversation between Gene and Metallicus, but failed. I suspected Gene was supposed to spy on me, and I guess Nikon was just curious.

 “Thanks,” I whispered to Trexdis. Then, as the eleven of us left, Trexdis suddenly called out to Nikon.

 “Nice costume!” she said. “What’s your name again?”

 For a brief moment, Nikon seemed nervous, but then he yelled out, “Kyle!”

 Trexdis nodded. “Okay,” she muttered. “Hope you eat your Sour Patch first!”

 Nikon nodded absently. “Uh, sure!”

 When we got out of hearing distance, Terrence leaned towards Nikon. “Dude, why’d ya lie about your name?”

 “Just messing with Trexdis,” Nikon said dismissively. “It just occurred to me that since no one actually recognizes me in my costume, I should mess with them a bit, eh?”

 Brad chuckled. “Good idea!” he praised. “Should’ve thought about that!”

 

 Metallicus was passing out Fun Dips by the handful when we arrived. His head (or to be exact, his torso) immediately turned towards us.

 “Why, if it isn’t the children from Frared’s class,” he sneered. He glared at me especially. “Well, then, Mr. Garmadon. I hope you actually studied like I told you to!”

 “He didn’t!” Gene piped up, as if he had rehearsed those two words.

 I glared venomously at him, then Metallicus. “I was busy making my costume!” I protested.

  “That is no excuse!” Metallicus snarled. “I guess you’ll be having a second worksheet Monday!”

 I gritted my teeth. The others looked at me sympathetically, except Gene and Nikon. I glared at Metallicus’ helmet, nestled between his arm and torso. He towered above us on his horse, so I couldn’t peer down his neck hole and see his actual head.

 As Metallicus gave us Fun Dips, I noticed that he seemed to give an especially bigger handful to Gene, who grinned. “Amazing costume, Mr. Metallicus!” he praised.

 I rolled my eyes. Teacher’s pet.

 As soon as Nikon came up to Metallicus, he paused, glaring at him (at least, I THINK he did; I had no idea what he was doing inside his suit of armor).

 “Interesting costume,” Metallicus noted. “Your skill is most impressive. Did you buy it?”

 Nikon shook his head. “No, Mr. Metallicus. I made it.” Metallicus seemed to glare into Nikon’s soul, even though his face was hidden out of view. Heck, even his HELMET seemed to stare!

 Nikon suddenly began to act nervously. I couldn’t blame him. Any other kid would’ve crumpled underneath that look, maybe even me!

 “Well, go on, then,” Metallicus. “I hope you take Mr. Garmadon’s punishment as an example, students!” he yelled out to us. “Oh, and have a Happy Halloween!” he added sarcastically. I had a feeling he didn’t mean it.

 “I feel for you, man,” I said to Nikon. I might’ve been the new kid, but I had to be sympathetic, at least! Nikon shrugged, glad to get away from Metallicus.


	11. Don't you hate it when you're uglier than your Halloween Costume?

 We finally arrived at Arakchos’ room. In front of us was a clean, spotless elevator. Pressing the button, we walked inside. We listened to ‘La-la-la-la-laaaaa’ before they opened again.

 Inside was an enormous, clean, white room. On one wall was an enormous telescope, looking at the stars. Several cabinets and shelves held files, documents, serums, chemicals, pickled _things_ , tools, prototype machines, the usual. I felt the unnatural chill of air conditioning as we stepped inside.

 Arakchos was waiting for us at a giant table in the middle of the room, cluttered with a bunch of machine parts, screws, batteries, and tools. Next to her was giant stack of twizzler boxes; the Red kind, my favorite.

 She brightened at our presence, looking at us as if _we_ were the candy this time.

 “Why, hello, students!” she welcomed us. Even though her face wasn’t built for expressions, fixed in a show of her fangs, it always seemed to radiate her emotions. Now, it looked like she was smiling viciously.

 Nikon seemed pretty nervous, stepping behind us. I couldn’t blame him, especially due to our earlier encounter with Metallicus.

 “Here you go!” Arakchos handed us each a box. “Now, remember to brush your teeth!”

 Normally, we would’ve rolled our eyes. Unfortunately, her tone and overall appearance was just daring us to not, as if she had also said, _Or else the ‘Tooth Demon’ will pull them out at night!_

 Arakchos suddenly noticed Nikon. She stalked up to him, clutching her broom as if she were about to swat him away like some bug. “What a FASCINATING costume!” she praised. “Is that real electricity?”

 Nikon nodded quickly. “Um, yeah,” he muttered. Arakchos looked at him, tilting her head to the left, as if puzzled. Now her smile seemed even more vicious. “Well, go ahead now,” she said, shooing us away with her broomstick. “I have business to attend to.”

 Now it was the others’ turn to feel sorry for Nikon.

 “Yeesh,” Brad muttered. “It seems like your costume has only brought you trouble so far, Nikon!”

 Nikon nodded. “Uh, yeah,” he muttered, not meeting our eyes. “Anyways, who’s next?”

 I checked my map. “No one, as far as I know,” I muttered.

 “Hey, let’s not forget about the ‘Bonus’ places Frared mentioned!” Richie pointed out.

 Gene nodded. “I have a feeling,” he suggested. “That perhaps the Library, janitor’s closet, computer lab, and possibly maybe even the cafeteria are these ‘Bonus’ options!”

 “We have a computer lab?” I asked.

 Brad rolled his eyes. “There are still other places we could check,” he added. We all began discussing possible options.

 “I have an idea!” Felix suggested. “Perhaps we could all split into duumvirates and check all of these possible options. Then, we all meet again at the dorm, report our news. We can check out the rest of the places that way!”

 “Sounds good!” Buzz praised. Francis grinned stupidly.

 “I’ll take Lloyd!” Nikon said quickly. Soon enough, everyone began getting into pairs, or as Felix would say, ‘Duumvirates’. Lupus was with Francis, Richie was with Diablo, Terrence was with Brad, Felix was with Gene, and Buzz was alone.

 “Let’s check out the generator room,” Nikon told me. I nodded. “Let’s go!”

 

 We finally arrived at the first floor. Down the hallway, flanking the entrance, was several doors, each labeled something else. One said ‘PROCESSED NUCLEAR PROKARYOTIC BACTERIA’, which made absolutely no sense. I wondered if Arakchos went in there, and what it was for. Another was labeled ‘CLINIC’.

 I was immediately reminded of Juriyn, the nurse. She was apparently some cyborg that didn’t remember her past, and after listening to several conversations, managed to piece together some of the clues to make a vague, yet solid idea of the teachers’ past.

 “Hey, let’s check the clinic,” I suggested. However, Nikon just shook his head. “Nah,” he muttered. He pointed at another door that said ‘GENERATOR ROOM’. “Come on, what are you waiting for?!” he seemed pretty excited, as if he could hardly wait.

 I shrugged. I really wanted to meet Juriyn and tell her about my day, but I guessed that could wait. When we opened the door, blinding light hit my eyes.

 Inside was an enormous chamber, the ceiling so high that it was hidden in shadows. Several, enormous clear cylinders dotted the area, green energy streaking through them. Control pads were everywhere, along with several sockets and cables. I noticed a few computers on one table.

 We stood on a metal ridge that overlooked all of it. Flanked by railing, it split off towards the left and right, before circling back and meeting at the floor.

 “Let’s go!”

 Nikon was so impatient, he leaped off and landed at the ground. I shrugged, following him through the stairs.

 “Nice place,” I muttered. Nikon nodded, eyeing the cylinders hungrily. “Man… all that energy…” he shook his head.

 “Hey, isn’t some robot named Spirius-4 supposed to be here?” I asked.

 Nikon shrugged. “Looks like he’s not here.”

 “Guess this place is a dud,” I muttered. “We should check the clinic.”

 “You won’t be going anywhere, Garmadon, except with me.”

 I blinked. “Wait, _what?!_ ”

 Nikon’s face was hidden, but he seemed to be grinning viciously. Then, in a streak of light, in a speed that was definitely NOT possible, he reappeared at the door. He raised his fist, and REAL, legitimate, authentic electricity curled in his palm.

 My eyes bulged. I wanted to say it was really cool at first, but all of a sudden I felt nervous. My instincts told me to run.

 The lightning snapped off from Nikon’s fingers, curling around the doorknob. “That’s better,” he said calmly. Nikon’s high, quick voice suddenly sounded sinister, cunning, and sly.

 “What’s going on…?” I suddenly backed away. I had nowhere to go. The room was enormous, true, extending who knows how long; but it was still finite. And Nikon could move faster than anything I had ever seen. Running would accomplish nothing at all.

 Nikon tut-tutted. “Foolish boy,” he sneered, sounding much more adult, more older. “You walked right into my clutches.”

 “W-what do you mean?” Cold fear crept into my veins. My throat went dry.

 “Take off that ridiculous costume,” Nikon ordered. “I haven’t seen your face at all today, and I won’t get a second chance.”

 I didn’t like what he meant by that, but I obeyed. I took off my spider costume and set it aside. Nikon observed my face, absorbing in the details.

 “Just like your father,” he noted. “You’ve got his eyes, too, and your face is pretty reminiscent of _hers_ , if my sources were correct.”

 “Sources?” I said weakly.

 Nikon shook his head. “Some of the others were a lot older than they looked,” he replied dismissively. “But no matter. Sometimes, age doesn’t always bring wisdom, and I have managed to beat the others to you.”

 I stared. I began to panic. I wanted to bolt, run away forever, away from this place, away from Nikon. “W-what others,” I whimpered. “W-who ARE you?!”

 Nikon suddenly smiled, as if this was some cruel joke. Amused, he chuckled.

 Silence.

 Then he practically exploded in a burst of pure energy. His metal armor suddenly expended, contracted, unfolding. All the gathered-up, concentrated energy finally stretched out, roaring.

 Now, Nikon was no longer so small. He was now even taller than Draik. His head was shaped like a side-ways rhombus, framed by metal and metal spines. Energy flashed inside the frame, with two scathing, scarlet eyes inside.

 He wore wicked shoulder pads and segmented armor around his chest. Four long, giant, insectoid wings made of lightning grew out of his back. His body was made of pure, raging electricity, with giant metal gauntlets wrapped around his wrists and chaotic, flashing talons. He wore a bladed, metal kilt, kind of like an ancient gladiator. He stood on armored, clawed feet, and had a long, whip-like tail, with a serrated blade at the end.

 The being stepped forward, snarling, and with rage and fury, roared.

  “ _I_ AM NIKON!!!!”


	12. ANOTHER Kidnapping Attempt happens the next day

 I could’ve fainted.

 But I didn’t. Which was a complete shame, because I was terrified beyond all comprehension.

 Nikon chuckled darkly. His voice was deeper, more chaotic and mechanical. “I have waited SO long for this,” he sneered. “When I was imprisoned in that wretched Tower of Tears, I vowed revenge on Lee and Wu!”

 He shook his head. “Alas, Lee had passed away and Wu disappeared. But I don’t need to take my rage out on just those two.” He didn’t have a mouth, but he could’ve smiled. “But I can take it out on _you_.”

 I was being Captain Obvious, but I mouthed _me?_ anyway.

 Nikon cracked his electrical knuckles. “Once I take you to the mistress, it'll STILL not be enough! I'll pursue Misako, maybe even Jasmine, if she still lives…”

 He shook his head. “But none of that matters. Now, I will enjoy capturing you for today, in order to further our agendas.”

 “H-how…”

 Nikon was amused. “Foolish boy,” he sneered. “It was difficult getting through that accursed barrier, but one of my other friends helped me get in. Since I can shape around my armor and form, I disguised myself as a child in his Halloween costume, late for dinner.”

 His talons rose. “How about we play a bit with our food, eh?” he snarled. “Parents always tell kids not to, but you’re due a date with the mistress, hmm?”

 Mistress? Before I could figure out what he meant by that, he blasted a bolt at me.

 I screamed. I leapt out of the way, and it barely hit me, blasting apart the concrete. My hairs stood on end, and the air smelled of ozone.

 “Too easy!” Nikon cackled. “But at least I’ve had my laugh- time to leave this wretched place!”

 I should’ve stood my ground. But I couldn’t. I was terrified. No one was there to help me. I was all alone with a vicious being that wanted to tear me apart, that held a centuries-long grudge that was unstoppable.

 I bolted down the generator room. Nikon cackled, his wings buzzing as he lifted into the air and flew after me like some menacing dragonfly, zapping a bolt here and there and making me even more terrified.

 Adrenaline rushed through my veins, but Nikon was catching up to me without even trying. Heck, he could’ve easily captured me right now if he wanted to, but instead he was taking his time, playing with me.

 I should’ve been defiant. I should’ve stood my ground and refused to be someone’s toy.

 But I couldn’t. I ran through the generator room, the same cylinders streaking past, as if the place was infinite. Finally, a last bolt struck the floor next to my foot. Concrete was sent flying, and my foot felt like it was shoved as I fell.

 I moaned in pain. Pain shot up my leg as my nerves rang.

 I twisted my neck, looking back at Nikon. He cackled, his voice echoing throughout the room. He hovered above me like a menacing thundercloud.

 “I have to admit, you were fun, Garmadon. But now,” Nikon announced. “Playtime is over-”

 A door slammed into his back.

 I know. It doesn’t make sense. But it did.

 Nikon snarled as he smashed into the floor with a tremendous roar. The concrete beneath him vaporized as wood splinters and a doorknob flew everywhere.

 Behind him, panting like a demented psychopath, was Coach Yelatem.

 “WHAT’S THIS?!” Nikon snarled, climbing back to his feet. His body flared in rage.

 Metallicus, Arakchos, Frared, and Scors appeared, no longer wearing their costumes. Several shapes fell from the ceiling, landing onto the ground in a circle big enough to surround Nikon, but small enough to keep me out.

 I instantly recognized Spirius-1, 2, 3, 6, and $, along with several others. And was it my imagination, or were they carrying… weapons?!

 “Did you really think we wouldn’t notice?!” Metallicus sneered. His arms were crossed, and he was practically amused.

 “Are you challenging me?!” Nikon roared. His tail lunged forward, aimed for Metallicus. I won’t deny it- part of me wished it hit him.

 It never reached its target. Metallicus whipped out a long, slender black sword, made out of some sleek black metal. Embedded in its hilt was an ovular, smooth gem, about the size of an almond.

 The blade sliced through the electricity. It should’ve conducted it and electrified Metallicus, but it didn’t. Nikon howled in agony as energy flashed, and soon the disconnected blade clattered to the floor.

 Nikon limped away from Metallicus. “You should’ve conducted that,” he moaned. “This makes no sense!”

 “For you, it wouldn’t, you spark-brained moron!” Metallicus snarled. “You’ve made a mistake entering our school. Those who come in, don’t come out, at least not without our permission…and when they do, they’re never the same.”

 I know, I know, Nikon had tried to kidnap me, like, a few seconds ago, just like Gruesome.

 But I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the chap. It seemed to dawn on him that he was now playing with fire, and the vicious look Metallicus and Arakchos had… it sent chills down my spine, just as bad as the ones I had when I saw the Dark Lord and Samukai in my dream.

 “How’d you discover me?!” Nikon snarled. Metallicus shrugged. “You can’t escape my eyes, Nikon,” he said casually. His eyes were anything but that.

 “My technology discovered your presence as well!” Arakchos sneered, eyeing Nikon like her personal birthday present, like a teenage girl would eye her new car, but worse. “But I let you go… I did send a signal to my Spirius drones to watch out for you!”

 She readied her wicked talons, stalking towards Nikon. Yelatem cracked his knuckles. “FINALLY!” he roared. “I’M GONNA SEND YOU ALL THE WAY TO THE UNDERWORLD!!!!”

 Scors took out a thin katana. “Let’s play with him, like he did with the kid,” he hissed, relishing the moment. Frared twiddled his thumbs, carrying an axe. “I don’t know about this,” he said nervously. “The LAST time I fought, well…”

 Nikon backed away, sizing his situation. The teachers were definitely a clear threat, and the Spirius drones were, too. Then he glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. I was the only reason he came here; I had to be taken to the mistress he mentioned.

 He flared with lightning and blasted a bolt at me. I staggered, and suddenly felt a hand snatch me out of the way. Trexdis came into view, now wearing a leather, sleeveless, strapless sort of tank top, two blades strapped on the back, and a leather kilt with a large pouch attached to the side.

 “Hey, kid,” she nodded towards me, before glaring back at Nikon. “And in case you’re wondering,” she added. “You’re a terrible liar. I knew you weren’t Kyle Germa; Kyle was dressed like a gillman.”

 Nikon lashed out at Trexdis. She clutched my arm, and ran straight into the reflective glass of the nearest cylinder.

 I closed my eyes, expecting an impact. But it never came. I opened them, finding myself in some endless, infinite expanse. The two of us, Trexdis and I, were floating around in some world, made of some light. It was shiny, like a mirror, and I could see my warped face everywhere I turned.

 I looked at Trexdis, who was looking especially grim. “Where-”

 Trexdis sighed. “Sorry, kid,” she apologized. She grabbed a canister. At first, I thought it was Pepper Spray, but then a blue mist emerged and I inhaled it immediately.

 I suddenly felt tired as my mind began to drift away, sinking into unconsciousness.

_Stay awake…_ I protested. _Stay…._

 But it was impossible. It was a long night. My run made me exhausted, and it was so easy, just relaxing and letting it take over…

 And then I felt myself, sinking, sinking, into darkness.


	13. The History Teacher discusses Magic Theory

 My nightmare was like this.

 I was now in a room. It was about the size of a classroom, circular and carved from wicked, black stone. Curved, razor sharp spires grew out of the ground like the talons of some beast, trying to claw its way out.

 In the middle was a polygonal table, with rough, wicked edges. It was made of ebony marble, streaked with white in the shape of thunder, which reminded me of Nikon. Eight large, throne-like chairs with armrests made of destonium, leather, and cushions surrounded it.

 Six of them were filled by the teachers, excluding Draik. I wondered whom the eighth one belonged to, but that didn’t matter.

 Trexdis sat back in her chair, exhausted. She and the others had a few scorch marks here and there, along with the occasional cut and bruise. “That was annoying,” she groaned, rubbing the back of her neck.

 “We fought him in the generator room,” Scors grumbled, glaring at Metallicus. “I know you wanted to keep the students safe, but the GENERATOR room?!”

 Metallicus shrugged, waving a hand dismissively. “So you’re not to the challenge, then?”

 Arakchos snarled with pleasure. “Nikon would make a fascinating test subject,” she noted. She curled her talons with vicious anticipation.

 “HA!” Yelatem roared. “HE WAS EASY!!! YA SHOULD’VE LEFT THE FIGHTING TO ME!!!!” He slammed his fists together.

 Frared looked incredibly jittery, as if he had ten bags of sugar poured into his veins and drank a million espressos. “Hoo,” he muttered crazily, his eyes darting back and forth. “So long since I did THAT, ho-ho…”

 “We probably shouldn’t have brought him there,” Trexdis pointed out, glaring at Frared. Metallicus shook his head.

 “That’s irrelevant,” he reminded her. “What we’re here to discuss, however, is the circumstances of Nikon infiltrating the school…”

 He clasped his metal talons together. “The magic barriers Darkley had set up during the first days of the Boarding School, when it was new, should be strong enough to keep him out.”

 “I thought the barrier could be broken,” Arakchos pointed out. Metallicus nodded.

 “Precisely,” he admitted. “If one had the sufficient amount of resources and time, they could break through the barrier eventually… but any attempt to do so, much less creating an opening, would’ve been sensed immediately by Draik.”

 “But Draik’s gone crazy,” Frared added, calming down. “There was no way he could’ve sensed it, all locked up like we put him, right?”

 I wondered what Frared was talking about. Draik locked up? I thought Metallicus said that he was on vacation.

 “You underestimate why he had been chosen,” Metallicus corrected. “He is unique, in the case that he is especially sensitive to magic, spinjitzu, energy, the works. And Draik isn’t the only one who can sense the breach.”

 “So what you’re saying,” Scors said slowly. “Is that the school isn’t safe?” He snorted at the idea, amused. “Like it was ever!”

 Metallicus nodded in agreement. “As I mentioned, the barrier can still be punctured eventually. We weren’t safe- just ‘lucky’ if you believe in such a thing. The main forces of Ninjago haven’t attacked us, for many reasons.”

 He took out several marble tablets, each with several different insignias. “The Triads are in our command, though they don’t know it…” Metallicus said. “The Techno League and Phantom Alliance have no interest in us. The N.O.P. lack the approval from the leaders of Ninjago to attack, and the Terrorbrai, the Council of Warlocks, and others… as I said before, we’re just ‘lucky’.”

 “But in this case, it’s none of those,” Trexdis reminded the others. “We’re dealing with the worst criminals on the planet, most of which would make those factions you mentioned cry. The Tower of Tears has been destroyed…. And by who, I think I might know.”

 My heart sank. I wanted Trexdis and Spirius-1 to hide my information, so I could use it (how, I had no idea; my gut just told me to). But then again, one of the Tower’s escapees nearly captured me, and he wasn’t even TRYING, so I guess I could let it pass.

 “The kid… Lloyd… he mentioned having another nightmare.”

 I expected Metallicus to call Trexdis out on making theories based on ‘silly dreams’, but instead he leaned forward. “Yes?”

 “Apparently, there were two guys in an underground chamber; a four-armed, skeletal creature named Samukai, and a being made of shadows called the Dark Lord.”

 Metallicus’ head tilted to the left, as if his curiosity was piqued, at the mention of ‘Samukai’.

 “Lloyd said they were arguing over the stability of their alliance, and the Dark Lord mentioned not harming a certain child, as if he was needed alive for something.”

 “Lloyd thinks the kid is him,” Metallicus summed up immediately. “And let me guess; he thinks this Dark Lord and Samukai are behind it all?”

 Trexdis seemed pretty guilty, but she nodded. “He also met somebody in the bathroom, who sounds like a Tear based on the description. The Tear mentioned the Dark Lord before supposedly being pulled back by some force.”

 “Any guesses to who this Dark Lord is?” Scors glanced at Metallicus. “You’re our expert.”

  “Well, a ‘being made of shadows’ is too vague a description,” Metallicus retorted dryly. “But Samukai? Oh, I know him, and by the sound of it, this Dark Lord may be playing with fire.”

 “Yeah, Samukai mentioned that he could've imprisoned the Dark Lord whenever he wanted,” Trexdis mumbled.

 “Samukai and I had some business,” Metallicus explained. “Although he supposedly perished during one of our exploits. I’m not sure how he survived, but perhaps an outside force had acted.” He shrugged.

 “But we’re getting off-track,” he reminded the others. “Samukai and his new playmate are most definitely a threat, managing to destroy so powerful a place… but we could easily get the time to prepare for such a threat. What bothers me is the fact that Nikon got in so quickly… and how.”

 He swept away the marble tablets and put them away. “I studied the barrier. The ‘damage’ was most interesting…”

 “JUST GET TO THE POINT!!!” Yelatem roared. “I’M HUNGRY FOR STUFF TO SMASH!!!”

 Metallicus wore a helmet, but even I could tell he must’ve rolled his eyes. “It would require magic of enormous strength to penetrate the barrier, but of even greater control to only do a small portion,” he went on.

 “However, whoever did this managed to do a perfect circle, which even a Warlock couldn’t do. Furthermore, I did an additional check, and noticed something interesting…”

 He took out a piece of paper, a pencil, and began to draw a circle on it.

 “Imagine this is the barrier,” he explained. “And the paper is a dimension… which makes sense, seeing as how it is 2-D, but you get my drift.”

 “I DON’T!” Yelatem yelled.

 “Of course you don’t, you single-brain celled dolt,” Metallicus sneered. “Anyways, our enemy in question managed to do so easily remove a piece of the barrier, without us even noticing the damage… because he or she transported it to another dimension.”

 Using his metal talons, he cut out a small circle in the square pretty neatly and pushed it aside.

 “We couldn’t sense it at first because the piece of the barrier didn’t even _exist_ , at least in this world.” Metallicus elaborated. “Few magic is powerful enough to sustain over dimensions, and the barrier is designed to alert Draik or any of us should it detect a piece of it somewhere else in this dimension. However, since that piece was not in our dimension, it couldn’t detect the flaw, we couldn’t notice the damage, and Nikon was able to sneak inside.”

 “Well, Nikon was taken down,” Arakchos pointed out, practically licking her lips at the memory. “So that leaves our little ‘friend’ in question… unless there’s more to what you’re saying, Metallicus. I have to admit; I’m still a rookie understanding this new… _science_ of yours.”

 “I am but a mortal,” Metallicus said humbly. “Still, you are correct. It’s one thing to remove the barrier without actually breaking the flow of magic… it’s another to reconnect it, too.”

 He placed the circle back into the hole, but it still didn’t fit properly. “Our enemy would need to reconnect the barrier and its piece together without disrupting the flow of magic… and only a person who has an understanding of the barrier can let him or her accomplish this.”

 All six of them let that happy thought sink in. Then, Scors, being the only one brave enough, muttered, “You’re saying we have a traitor in our midst.”

 “Not necessarily,” Metallicus pointed out. “It is possible they’re being controlled.”

 “Or had their mind read,” Trexdis added. “After all, the job of fixing the barrier can only be done from the inside. For all we know, this person could be hiding in here, no offense to Draik’s ability.”

 “Anyways, you mentioned the Golden Artifacts, each with some ability,” Scors muttered. “Couldn’t one of those hide our infiltrator?”

 “Still,” Frared muttered, trying to be of some help. “We might have an idea of when this enemy infiltrated the school. The only time we at least know they used their magic is today, so that’s at the very least when they arrived.”

 Metallicus nodded, impressed. “You’re all right,” he praised. “However, we can’t ignore the possibility of a traitor, impersonator, or someone being controlled against his or her will.”

 The air suddenly tensed as everyone looked at each other. Distrust began to build up as everyone glared at each other, trying to figure out who it could be.

 “Draik had to be locked up today,” Frared muttered once more. “So whoever got in should leave tomorrow.”

 “On the other hand,” Scors grunted. “Our friend in our midst could be using their little Golden Artifact. And who’s to say it’s not Draik himself?”

 Everyone let that thought sink in. “It would be an ideal time,” Arakchos admitted. “All locked up, hidden away in the school, with no one batting an eye…”

 “AH, let’s just snap out of it!” Yelatem snarled. “We ain’t doin’ ANYTHING!!!”

 Trexdis sighed. “He’s right,” she admitted. “Wisdom CAN come from the strangest places, like a berserk coach, but he’s correct when he said we’re not in any condition to figure out the mole.”

 “It’s been a long night,” Frared added. “I’m exhausted from all those pranks with our Bone Eater!”

 Everyone began to get up, including Metallicus. Then he stiffened. “Hold it!” he snapped. Everyone went still, staring at him.

 “I’m sensing an old presence… one I haven’t seen in a long time.”

 That was when my dream seemed to warp away, and I sank back into darkness.

 

 “RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!!!!!”

 My eyes snapped open, annoyed. My limbs ached and my throat felt dry. I instantly processed my surroundings.

 I was back in my bed at the dorm, changed back into pajamas. My spider costume was beside me, along with my box of school supplies and my bag of candy.

 I yawned, stretching out and sitting up. To my surprise, the others were already awake. Francis was picking his nose, Brad was fiddling around with a slinky, and I heard Richie making smacking noises above me, like he was eating something- probably candy.

 “You’re awake,” Richie muttered, sounding in a relatively good mood. “By the way, we raided your candy stash while you were awake. But don’t worry; we didn’t eat any more than half of what was inside.”

 I blinked. Considering I was knocked out cold, all my candy defenseless in a room with three juvenile delinquents, it was probably the nicest thing they had ever done.

 “Thanks,” I muttered. I snatched a twizzler, tore off the wrapper, and rammed the end into my mouth. It felt kind of funny, thanks to that taste in my mouth, but I chewed on it anyway.

 “Hey, where were you, anyway, Lloyd?” Brad muttered. He held up a slip of paper. “It’s a note from the teachers. It says, ‘Don’t mention our incident in the Generator Room’.”

 I instantly remembered. I badly wanted to tell the others about Nikon, but I had a feeling that the teachers had their ways of knowing.

 “Well?” Richie asked. “And what happened to Nikon, anyway?”

 “Well… I can’t tell you,” I muttered. It was true, although I was mostly buying myself time to think of a decent lie.

 “Come on,” Brad pleaded. “We’re your friends!”

 Finally, I came up with an idea. “Nikon and I found the entire candy stash,” I admitted.

 “WHAT?!!?!”

 Brad, Richie, and even Francis stared at me. I nodded miserably, as if I had just lost my chance at the jackpot.

 “We thought we had it all; then the teachers came, because apparently Nikon’s parents were taking him to a new, fancier boarding school.”

 Brad frowned. “Wait… I know, it says that you can send kids to Darkley’s… which is condemning them, by the way… but no one has EVER done that, since a school that supposedly pretends to teach you how to be evil for fun doesn’t sound very strong in the ‘education’ department.”

 I shrugged. “Well, Nikon’s parents obviously learned THEIR lesson,” I lied. “Well, when Metallicus found out I was trying to steal from the stash… he knocked me out with stun gas. STUN GAS.”

 Richie whistled in sympathy. “You must’ve had quite a night.”

 “Did Nikon leave behind his costume?” Francis asked. I shook my head.

 “Um… no. Anyways, it wouldn’t fit you.” I pointed out.

 Brad yawned, tossing his slinky over his head. “Anyway, today’s the day, Lloyd!” he announced. “You and the Search Gang shall begin your first mission today!”

 I blinked, remembering all about the Search Gang. Two days ago, my class and I wondered why the teachers looked so weird. Since I had a vague idea of their origins, I wanted to join and supposedly lead the others to the knowledge without revealing how I knew about it the entire time. In short, I was planning to use it to build a reputation.

 “Right,” I nodded. “And I’m with, uh…”

 “Terrence, Felix, Lupus, Buzz, and Seamus!” Richie reminded me.

 “Thanks,” I replied. I felt pretty overwhelmed, realizing it had been only two days, and I had already; Gotten kidnapped by a skeleton; Saved by an invisible teacher; Introduced to a crew of criminals who taught juvenile delinquents; encountered a mutant bully; made friends with a robot janitor; got fire ants put in my bed; had two nightmares warning me of something; got stalked by a bug-eyed mummy; made my costume; met an H2O being; went trick-or-treating with a Tower of Tears escapee; got attacked by said escapee; got knocked out and spied on my teachers in another nightmare; all until now.

 I tried to process it all. Any other kid probably would’ve had a splitting headache.

  “Let’s… let’s go to breakfast,” I muttered, overwhelmed.


	14. The Principal returns from Prison

 After getting breakfast from Spirius-$ (who began getting all nostalgic about handing Buzz the ‘Bonus candy’), we sat down at our table.

 “Hey, Lloyd!” Terrence said, chewing on his toast. “Where were ya, man?”

 “Yeah! You and Nikon completely disappeared!” Lupus added, his mouth covered with pulp, toast crumbs, and other bits of food that made me want to grab a napkin and slam it into his face.

 I told them my false story, and when I was finished, the others nodded, pretty disappointed.

 “Man, Nikon was so AWESOME!” Buzz commented.

 “His skill was indeed impressive,” Gene muttered, chewing on a strip of bacon. “Although I do wonder about his scores…”

 “Wish he left me his costume!” Diablo commented. “Might’ve fit me!”

 Seamus looked nervous, almost conspiratorial. Speaking of which- Seamus always had an obsession with sci-fi, and wore a giant rubber insectoid alien mask over his head. I’ve never seen him take it off, to tell the truth. I had no idea why the teachers allowed it in class.

 Anyway, he glanced around, leaned over, and whispered, “I think Nikon was an alien.”

 We all stared. Then, in a very morbid tone, I muttered, “You’re absolutely right.”

 Then we laughed our heads off.

 It felt good to tell a bit of the truth, even if I claimed it was a joke immediately afterwards. Just saying it out loud released a load off of my chest.

 Still, my head was buzzing with questions. What happened to Nikon? The teachers mentioned defeating him, but they never said what happened to him afterwards. Did he run off? Was he imprisoned?

 I looked back at Spirius-2, 3, and $. I vaguely remembered seeing them, and several others, carrying actual weapons. The details were still fuzzy, but seeing those cafeteria bots as ruthless warriors seemed so fantasy-like.

 I glanced at the teacher’s table. Everyone was there, all accounted for. Frared waved at me, but I didn’t notice.

 Sitting at the table, acting leisurely and sipping out of a golden goblet, was Draik.

_What happened to him?_ I thought to myself.  _He’s acting pretty casual, but Metallicus mentioned he was locked up in the school… but he also said he was on vacation. Was his idea of vacation getting locked up inside the school?_

 The idea weirded me out. I remembered Metallicus mentioning that he sensed a presence when my dream ended.

 But who was it? Could it be that intruder he and the others discussed? And even then, was one of the teachers being controlled, impersonated, or even betraying the others on their own free will?

 I tried to imagine who it was. Maybe Yelatem? He seemed like the only person who’d have dismissed what I said about the bug-eyed mummy. Or Scors? He couldn’t see Nikon through his disguise, but he noted his ‘costume’ with a hint of familiarity.

 And what about Arakchos? She looked at everyone like she wanted to dissect them, and who’s to say she isn’t trying to right now? Frared was a bit _too_ reluctant about fighting Nikon at first, and all of a sudden he seemed unnecessarily enthusiastic, as if he was trying to make up for his lack of interest earlier, and Trexdis mentioned they shouldn’t have brought him there.

 And then Metallicus was the only one who mentioned the presence, and seemed to understand the mechanics of the barrier so well, not to mention the fact that while Arakchos was signaling her Spirius drones and Trexdis was just intrigued by Nikon’s answer, Metallicus knew who he was yet did absolutely nothing at all. Draik could’ve been using his ‘vacation’ as an excuse to do his work.

 And Trexdis? I hated to think about it. I just didn’t want to. But it was still possible. She always seemed to be on my case in the beginning, trying to help me. Also, maybe the only reason she managed to defeat Gruesome and save me from the river two days ago was because she was allied with Samukai, Gruesome’s master; the one who conspired with the Dark Lord to free the prisoners who helped open the barrier.

 Speaking of which, what WAS this Tower of Tears?! It sounded like some high-secruity prison, and Metallicus mentioned that the Dark Lord and Samukai had to be extremely powerful to destroy it.

 And who the heck was Samukai?! Metallicus mentioned having a few adventures with the dude before he joined the school. Apparently, he was fire, and the Dark Lord was now playing with him; Risky business, in short.

 I was so absorbed in my thoughts that Terrence had to snap his fingers several times in order get me out of my trance.

 “Hey!” he yelled. “Ninjago to Lloyd?”

 I shook my head, confused. “Um, yeah?”

 “You were kinda distracted there,” he muttered. I nodded. “Just thinking about how we’re going to start off our ‘investigation’,” I lied.

 Finally, Draik stood up, holding up his goblet. “GOOD MORNING STUDENTS!!!” he announced, flashing a casual smile. His eyes, on the other hand, weren’t.

 Draik was at least seven feet tall, resembling a humanoid bat with beady, red eyes. He had a snarling grimace, large fangs, with skin like burnt leather. Short, stubby talons were tipped at his fingertips, and his wings hung above his head, separate from his arms.

 “I hope you enjoyed Halloween!” he lied. “I for one, enjoyed my vacation, so I figure my absence would have made Halloween at our school a tad more bearable, hmm?”

 “He _is_ right,” Seamus admitted to us.

 “I’ve heard all about what happened! It sounds like Mr. Frared here managed to pull off quite the prank, eh?” He nudged Frared.

 “Also, a few of our students have managed to seek out our little ‘Bonus’ spots, where we passed out extra candy! I hope you enjoyed Halloween last night, because today’s training!”

 He flashed another false smile. “Well, good day to you!” he put down his goblet, walking out of the cafeteria with a confident, yet vaguely vicious stride.

 “Training?” I glanced at Brad and the others.

 “Well, every Sunday after dinner,” Brad explained. “We basically go to the auditorium, where the teachers teach us to be villains. After all, that’s the motto of the school, right?” He chuckled darkly. I couldn’t blame him. The place was founded by an evil sorcerer who wanted to cause mayhem by forcing several kids to grow into power-hungry tyrants.

 But I wondered if I was actually against growing up into a villain. I know, I know, call me a child sociopath, but my dad… apparently he was once evil. I had this weird desire to carry out his work, you know? Legacy?

 I shook it off. It didn’t matter anymore. Dumping my trash away, I walked up to Buzz, Terrence, Felix, Seamus, and Lupus, who were all waiting for me at the cafeteria entrance.

 “So, what’s the plan?” I asked as the six of us began to walk back to the dorm. Felix shrugged.

 “The teacher’s lives are rather cryptic,” he explained. “And their appearances leave so many more stories to tell!”

 “Yelatem’s a boxer,” Lupus belched. “Let’s search up about boxers!”

 “So we just head to the library?” I asked. Terrence shrugged. “Why not? Lloyd, you go to the library while we head back to the dorm. We’ll go consult your ‘Magic encyclopedia’,”

 About my magic encyclopedia; It was given to me by the teachers as a sort of compensation for my ruined birthday. It was basically a dusty, old book with ancient pages that looked like it might’ve been used by my grandfather during HIS school days. The cover was completely faded, and by writing down your request into it, it would show you all the information put into the Darkley archives.

 “You guys know how to use it?” I asked, making sure. Buzz nodded. “See ya, Lloyd!”

 I took out my map, unfolding it and pinpointing my direction and where the library was. I drew a mental path, and walked off from the rest of the group.

 

 The library took up an entire block. Three different entrances led inside, each labeled, in golden letters, ‘LIBRARY’. I opened them, walking inside.

 Flanking each entrance were those security machines you see at stores that keep you from stealing stuff. Beyond that, in the middle of the room, was a single, large table filled with a bunch of new books. Circling the area around the table, pointing away like the rays of light on a cartoon sun, were a bunch of different shelves filled with all sorts of books. In one corner of the room was a bunch of couches, chairs, dotted with pillows, footrests, and a small wooden table. Next to the corner was a spiral staircase leading to a second floor, made out of a fusion of metal and glass.

 At the very back of the room, opposite the little corner where you could relax, was a wooden counter, with a bowl of apples, a rack of bookmarks, and all sorts of librarian equipment. On the side was a slot where you turned in books, and behind the counter was a glass door leading to another room.

 I began walking around. So far, we were trying to find out about Coach Yelatem; the guy looked like a boxer, so we assumed he was at one point; and if Juriyn was right, then he was. All we had to do was find out if he was famous, search up about his life, and then we’d have a vague idea of his past.

 I secretly wondered if they would actually put in any books detailing Yelatem’s life, though. I mean, it seemed like the teachers’ origins would be a sore subject they’d like to hide.

 I shook it off. I still had what Juriyn told me. And if all went wrong, I could pretend to have found out about the teachers from Juriyn that day and lead the others there. Then again, if the teachers found out Juriyn spilled their secrets, she might get all the blame… and I didn’t have the heart to do that.

 “Do you need anything?”

 I jumped back. Approaching me was a long, serpentine spirius drone.

 It had a sleek head, with a fin on top and four mechanical eyes with snake-like slits for ‘pupils’. It had a long, segmented neck, leading to a larger, box-like segment flanked by wheels and what looked like a rocket on each side. Then, further down its length was a second, smaller segment, this one with two wheels instead of four. Finally, it ended with a long, whip-like tail with miniature drills and two grasping claws. Overall, it was about six or seven feet long.

 “Um… who are you?” I asked bluntly.

 “I am Spirius-7,” it spoke in a mechanical, feminine voice that sounded vaguely snake-like. “Now, what is it you want?”

 “Um… I think I’ll just ask your librarian first,” I muttered. “Er… because I want to meet him, of course!” I added, deciding not to get on Spirius-7’s mood.

 It probably didn’t work. Spirius-7 made a noise like a rattlesnake, and immediately slithered off. “Follow me.”

 Spirius-7 led me past rows and rows of miscellaneous books. They were all different colors, sizes, but they were all perfectly clean and refined, which was weird. In a school of juvenile delinquents, I figured they’d be in a worse shape. Or maybe no one here read at all, so they never got the chance to ruin them.

 Then I saw the librarian, and it suddenly made sense why no one ruined the books.

 “You…” I muttered. “YOU…”

 I paled, shaking my head and stepping back.

 Metallicus didn’t need to smile to show his extreme smugness. “Why, if it isn’t Mr. Garmadon. Come to see my library, I suppose?”

 I had been hoping that a spirius drone ran the library, maybe even 7. But Metallicus? I wanted to stay as far away from him as possible, especially since he was beginning to get on my case about ‘studying’ ever since Gene ratted me out on Halloween.

 It also occurred to me why no one damaged the books; with Metallicus breathing down your spine, it was the stupidest idea ever.

 “Uh… yeah,” I snapped. “Why would it matter to you?”

 “Because I run the library, and control the flow of books coming in and out, and am the only one who can let someone leave with them,” Metallicus said sarcastically. “Now, don’t make me ask this question again like a broken, repeating tune; What do you _want?_ ”

 I hesitated. If I asked him about boxers, he’d get on my case. I wasn’t interested in them, and he knew it.

 But then I had an idea. “What are the parts of the Dewey Imbecile system about?”

 Oops.

 Metallicus wore a metal helmet, but I imagined his face flushing with pure rage. “Dewey _Decimal_ , you bumbling dodo!” he snarled, gripping the counter with his talons.

 “Sorry,” I said hastily, but I didn’t really mean it. “But, yeah… what are the sections?”

 Metallicus pointed at a chart behind him. On it was a bunch of text put in boxes connected by lines that practically oozed boring.

 “Luckily for you stupidity-reeking child psychopaths,” he hissed. “I put up the Dewey Decimal system!”

 I studied, it looking for the section about sports. 700-799, I thought to myself. That shouldn’t be too hard.

 But before I could leave, Metallicus stopped me. “Spirius-8!” he yelled.

 A few seconds passed, and a second robot arrived. This one was about four feet tall, standing on six, crab-like legs. He had wide shoulders, and long, sleek arms tipped with metal fingers. His head was polygonal, but what was really odd was that at the front of his face was a long, sleek, turret, with two triangular blades tipped at the end. He carried a satchel filled with… balloons filled with lemon juice. Did he shoot those at people who turned in overdue books? I guessed it wasn’t the worst punishment, so why not?

 “Yes, Metallicus?” Spirius-8 had a mechanical, Arabic accent.

 “I want you and Spirius-7 to escort Mr. Garmadon here, in case he gets _lost_ ,” Metallicus sneered at me at ‘lost’.

 8 didn’t seem too happy to be in my acquaintance, but he nodded. “Yes, Metallicus.”

 I stood for a moment, staring at the two spirius drones expectantly.

 “Well?” Metallicus demanded. “What are you waiting for, you mindless doofus?”

 I walked a few steps, and 7 and 8 followed me without a word, stopping in synchronization almost immediately.

 “Okay…” I muttered. I had a feeling Metallicus was rolling his eyes behind me, but I didn’t bother looking back and went back to the shelves, searching for the 700s section.

 It didn’t take me very long. I finally encountered a series of two or three shelves, reaching all the way to the ceiling, with a ladder on wheels hooked to the top so it wouldn’t fall down.

 “Bingo,” I muttered. “Now, let’s see…” tilting my head to the right like an idiot, I began scrolling through the titles.

 I finally came across a book about boxing. I immediately snatched it, and noticed 7 and 8 read the title. I tried hiding it, but I had a feeling they would’ve recognized it anyway.

 I finally snatched every single book about boxing, punching, and virtually any form of violence involving your fists. Piling them all into one stack, I made my way back to Metallicus.

 Metallicus was still at the counter, stalking me like a hawk or Spirius-3. Before either of us could speak, 7 and 8 blurted out in perfect synch, “Mr. Garmadon has chosen several books about boxers.”

 Something flared in Metallicus’ eyes, and I nearly flinched. _Busted,_ I thought to myself. _Maybe 8 doesn’t shoot only people with overdue books; maybe he’ll shoot_ me! _I don’t really see how lemon juice could hurt… on second thought, what if it gets in my EYES?!_

 But then Metallicus shrugged. “Interesting,” he noted. “Why would you be interested in boxing?”

 I knew I couldn’t lie. There was no way out. 7 and 8 glared at me, and I couldn’t see them behind my back, which made me nervous. Metallicus’ eyes peered into my soul, daring me to fib. I may not have been in an interrogation room, but the situation was even worse.

 Sweat trickled down my palms as the temperature in my head went up by at least a hundred degrees.

 “I…” I stammered. “I… want to know why Coach Yelatem’s… so skinny.”

  _That came out weird,_ I thought to myself.

 7 and 8 tilted their heads, intrigued, and I swore I heard 7 trying not to laugh.

 Metallicus shrugged, satisfied. “Not exactly the most healthy-looking, hmm?” he agreed. “Very well then. I certainly won’t stop you and your little gang from seeking knowledge; I respect such a noble quest.”

 He said it all with a hint of grudging admiration. I wondered how he knew about the Search Gang, until I remembered my theory on Gene being his little spy.

_That rat,_ I thought to myself. _When I get my hands on his-_

  “Well, what are you waiting for?!” Metallicus suddenly snarled. “Give me the books, you albino-eyed nincompoop!”

 I quickly handed him my stack. With speed and grace, Metallicus scanned the books, slipped in a return date into one of them, and handed them back.

 I blinked. “That’s it?”

  “Have you ever been to a library before?” Metallicus asked me sarcastically. However, the four of us knew that wasn’t what I meant. I was wondering why Metallicus was so willing to let me search up about him and the others.

 His words rang in my head again; _I certainly won’t stop you and your little gang from_ _seeking knowledge; I respect such a noble quest._ Maybe he wanted to see how good I was at my new hobby; like he was testing me out.

_We basically go the auditorium, where the teachers teach us to be villains. After all,_ _that’s the motto of the school, right?_ Brad’s words, too, echoed in my mind. I considered the possibility that Metallicus and I could get along, maybe even be friends; Which was a crazy, yet possible idea.

  “Thanks.” I said it so quietly, under my breath, I doubted Metallicus could hear. As I left, I swore he tilted his head, as if amused.


	15. My friends and I perform a robbery

 When I arrived at the dorm, Felix and the others were sitting at the couches, scrolling through my encyclopedia.

  “Any luck?” I asked them, dumping my books onto the table. Terrence shrugged.

  “Nothing,” he admitted. “We tried searching up famous boxers, but it didn’t mention Yelatem. Heck, we even tried searching _him_ up, but all we got was a bunch of boring stuff about his job at the school!”

  “Well, let’s start looking through the books, then,” I muttered. The six of us nodded, each grabbing three or four books and scrolling through the Table of Contents, trying to find even the slightest mention of ‘Nathaniel Yelatem’.

 Nothing.

 At least, that’s what I thought at first. Then Buzz held up his book. “Guys! Found somethin’!”

 We all shoved each other as we crowded around him. “What is it?!” Seamus demanded eagerly. Buzz showed us the table of contents. “It says here, on page 128, _Nathaniel Yelatem!_ ”

  “Well, show us the page, boy!” Felix declared. Buzz shook his head, but flipped all the way to page 128.

 Blank.

 It was completely blank.

 Nothing but a single, white expanse. Buzz turned a few more pages, each one sharing the same quantity of text and pictures; zilch. Finally, we came across a page with actual stuff on it, but it was about someone else; Amelius Cadmus.

 We groaned.

 Metallicus must’ve removed it, for obvious reasons; Probably to make our efforts even harder. For some reason, I also imagined him muttering something like, “Pity. What a waste of perfect words and ink.”

  “Well, at least we know that he once was a boxer,” I pointed out miserably.

 Lupus scratched his head. “Maybe he’s in another book.”

  “Sorry, my amigo,” Terrence corrected him. “But that WAS the last book.”

  “Did you read the entire thing?” Felix pressed Buzz. Buzz shook his head. “Um, no. I always check the table of contents first, just like you-”

   “READ, my boy! Read!”

 Buzz began flipping through the pages so quickly that I was afraid he might rip one and get us sent to detention for life by Metallicus.

 Finally, he stopped at a page in the chapter about Amelius Cadmus again. “It says here,” Buzz said slowly. “That Cadmus, around the end of his career, fought another champion boxer by the name of Nathaniel Yelatem in a duel.”

  “WHAT HAPPENED?!” we roared, silently cursing Buzz for being so obtuse.

  “Uh…” he stammered stupidly. “It says that Yelatem eventually ‘lost it’, going berserk, attacking Cadmus in raw fury. It also says that he bit off an ear, too!”

  “Gross,” Seamus admitted. “BUT GO ON!”

  “Uh… yeah… it says Yelatem had to be subdued by five security guards, a weed whacker, a cattle prod, and a pint of knockout serum… whoa. It also mentions that he retired because of his injuries.”

  “What about Yelatem?!” I demanded, hungry for more. Buzz shrugged. “I guess the rest is in his chapter, except it’s gone.”

 We groaned. We managed to confirm that one bit of information EVERYONE instantly assumed. Not exactly the most impressive feat by the ‘infamous’ Search Gang.

 Felix snatched Buzz’s book and began flipping through the pages, disappointed. Finally, he glanced at the last one, defeated.

 His eyes widened in excitement.

  “HOLD IT, my extravagant fellows!” he declared loudly, waving the book in the air. We snapped back into focus, glaring at Felix.

  “JUST GET TO THE POINT!!!” we demanded, impatient. Felix ripped open the book, turning all the way to the back of the book, where you found all that random text no one cared about.

  “The resources section,” he panted. “This is the place in the book where the author reveals where he or she gained their information. Obviously, they had to find out about Yelatem from an official source, so-”

  “We just look for the right book!” I summed up.

  “But if it’s in the library,” Terrence pointed out. “Who’s to say Metallicus hasn’t erased that one, too?”

 Felix chuckled, in an ingenious sort of way. “No, my boy,” he corrected him. “Not all books have to come from the library! We can BUY it!!!”

 We stared at him.

  “Uhm…” Lupus scratched his knee. “We don’t have any money.”

  “Richie does!” Terrence suddenly realized. “All we have to do is hand him a homework pass, batteries, all sorts of other random stuff; And he gives us what we need!”

  “I’ve always wondered how he gets it,” Buzz muttered.

 Felix patted him on the head, amused, as if he were a dog that was barking at its own shadow or something. “Well, that’s the motto of the Search Gang; We discover the secrets of this prison- ah, _school_ we have been condemned to!”

  “We have a motto?” Lupus muttered. Felix shrugged.

  “We do now!” he announced to everyone in the room, from us to a few bystanders. “SEARCH GANG, TO GENE’S ROOM!!!!”

 

  “So, like, how are we supposed to buy this book once we actually get the money?” I asked Felix as we crept to a dorm room. On it, labeled in golden letters, were the names ‘GENE TECHNOS’, ‘DIABLO SANCHEZ’, and ‘FELIX RAMSES’.

 Felix patted me on the head, chuckling. “Silly boy,” he explained, ruffling my hair. I shoved his hand away.

  “You see, every month, we are allowed to –after getting permission from the teachers- to leave the school, heading down to the nearby town. There, we get to do everyday activities like normal children. If we don’t return in time, Spirius-10 will arrive and drag us back to the school!”

  “Why are we crawling?” Buzz complained. All six of us were on our stomachs on the carpet, worming our way as if we were secret agents sneaking past the guards. “We’re in plain sight!”

  “You ruin the fun!” Felix whined. Lupus yelped when Diablo walked out of his room, smashing his hand.

  “Uh… guys?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “What the heck are you doing?”

  “Felix is having fun.” I muttered bluntly.

  “Is Gene in there?” Seamus asked. Diablo shook his head. “No, not really, why?”

  “We intend to snatch his homework passes –not that he uses them anyway- so we may strike a deal with our lad Mr. Rich and get money!!!” Felix boldly announced, worming his way through the open door.

  “Well, see ya.” Diablo popped a Hot Cheeto into his mouth and walked off, shivering with pleasure. Terrence got back to his feet. “Let’s just walk inside,” he muttered. Before he could take more than three steps, Felix snatched him by the ankles.

  “NEVER!!!!” he hissed.

 After a bunch of squirming, we finally made it inside the room before Felix let us stand up.

 Inside, there were two bunk beds on each side, with a cabinet in front of a window and a plastic bin. On the left bunk bed, at the bottom, was a bunch of empty Hot Cheeto bags, candy wrappers from Halloween, a cookbook, a rubber ball, pogo stick, and a plastic Frisbee with flames printed on it.

 Above, on the top, was a bunch of books about Shakespeare and literature, not to mention different clothes folded and packed neatly into clean stacks, and a notebook.

 I frowned. “Is that a diary?” I asked. Felix blushed.

  “It is a _journal_ ,” he corrected me. Terrence snickered. “They’re the same thing.”

 Felix waved his hand dismissively. “Whatever,” he muttered. On the right bunk, the bottom had a bunch of notebooks, textbooks, pencils, papers, supplies, and accordian folders. On top was a bunch of other stuff, including homework, assignments, and projects.

  “So Gene took the entire thing for himself?” I muttered. Felix rolled his eyes in annoyance, but nodded.

  Terrence grabbed the first folder he saw and began skimming through it. “Uh… no!”

 He snatched a second folder. Then another. We joined him in our search for Gene’s homework passes.

 Go ahead and call me a thief. To be honest, I didn’t really care. It’s not like Gene would EVER use them. Heck, if _I_ didn’t, I’d at least display them like trophies!

 We finally searched his entire bunk, scanning through everything. We checked underneath, too.

  “Nothing,” Felix decided. “Ah, CURSES! It appears our victim has gotten smarter over our last few thefts!” He began stroking his chin thoughtfully.

  “Of course, Felix!”

 We might as well have jumped out of our skin, because I instantly recognized the voice as Gene’s. We quickly turned, facing the shrimpy kid.

  “I’ll have you know,” he declared triumphantly. “That I have ‘used’ all of mine to get the proper money needed to buy new textbooks on quantum physics!” He threw back his head, cackling evilly.

  “Money? Like this?” Lupus stuffed his grimy hands into Gene’s pillowcase and emerged with at least twenty bucks.

 Gene paled.

  “NNNOOO!!!!” he wailed, running towards his savings, arms raised. Seamus tripped him, and he landed on the floor face-first.

  “RUN!!!!”

 The six of us split up, Lupus splitting Gene’s savings and giving us each a portion, in case Gene somehow caught up to him.

 Felix ran into the bathroom, locking it. Lupus and Terrence ran into their dorms, locking the door as well.

 That left only Buzz, Seamus, and me. We looked around frantically, until Gene arrived, a murderous look on his face.

  “MY SAVINGS!!!” he howled.

 I snatched an orange from the fruit bowl and chucked it at his face, nailing him on the nose.

  “TO THE HALLS!!!” I declared, and the three of us ran out of the door, tumbling down the staircase and splitting up. I glanced behind my back, noticing Gene head after Buzz, the slowest of us.

 I have to admit, it was pretty fun, Gene trying to get back his money while we split up, confusing him as we easily ran away. For a moment, I felt like a legitimate, evil villain committing his first bank robbery or something.

 I looked around frantically, wondering where I should go. I instantly spotted another bathroom, ran inside, and locked it shut.

 I glanced around, pretty exhilarated. I began pacing around the bathroom impatiently, stepping over wet toilet paper and puddles.

 Finally, when I felt like enough time had passed, I slowly opened the door, peeking out.

  “GGGAAAHH!!!!”

 Gene appeared out of nowhere, trying to tackle me. I sidestepped him, and he landed on his face.

  “HA!” I declared. “Try and tackle the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master AGAIN, Gene McGeek!”

 I instantly zoomed off, cackling with glee. “BAHAHAHAHA!!!!” I declared. “ _I LIIIIIIVVVEEE!!!!_ ”

 Man. Looking back, I was even more hyper and exhilarated than I had been in weeks! I literally felt the rush of victory.

 I finally made my way back to the dorm. I knocked on the bathroom door, glancing behind my back to see if Gene had followed me.

 I heard Felix, Seamus, Lupus, and Terrence’s voice. “Lloyd?”

  “BAHAHAHA!!!”

 The door clicked open, and the four of them welcomed me in before locking it shut again.

  “A job well done!” Felix praised, patting me on the back. “You might as well have passed a Rite of Passage of sorts, Lloyd!”

 I nodded, still shaking and hyper from sheer thrill. I handed Lupus my portion of Gene’s savings, pacing around the place.

  “Where’s Buzz?” I muttered over and over.

  “AAAHHH!!!” A slamming noise came from behind the door. “HE’S ALMOST GOT ME!!!”

 Like a ninja, I leaped to the door and slammed it open, yanking a panicking Buzz inside. Gene was outside, almost there.

  “BAHAHAHA!!!” I cackled, chucking a glop of wet toilet paper I randomly snatched. “BBAAGGHH!!!” Gene stumbled back, and I slammed the door shut, locking it.

 Buzz panted, leaning on his knees as he handed Lupus the savings. The poor guy was sweating pretty heavily, wheezing over and over.

  “Nice try, my boy!” Felix praised him, slapping him on the forehead. Buzz crawled over to the sink, drinking out of it.

  “So… what now?” I asked, still hyperactive. Terrence shrugged. “We wait for Gene to calm down and give up,” he explained.

  “Where do we hide his money?” Seamus muttered from inside a stall. “In Lupus’ dirty boxer shorts?”

 We chuckled at the idea. “We COULD,” Felix admitted, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “But in return, ONLY Lupus can touch it, agreed?”

  We agreed. We heard Gene slamming on the door in frustration.

  “I WANT MY MONEY BACK!!!” he screamed.

  “Come on, Gene,” Terrence taunted. “Who cares about QUANTUM PHYSICS?!”

  “I DO!!!” Gene shrieked indignantly.

  “Shouldn’t you be, like, studying for a pop quiz or something?” I chattered sarcastically. Gene paused for a moment, as if it was the smartest thing he had heard that day.

  “True…” he admitted thoughtfully. “STILL- ACK!”

 Now someone else was pounding on the door, even louder than Gene. “OPEN UP!!!”

 A chill ran down our spines. It was Finn.

  “C-coming!” Felix announced, tearing it open. Finn stood there, a nasty scowl on his face. He glanced at the five of us (Seamus was still in his stall).

  “Heard you guys stole Gene’s allowance,” he noted, mildly impressed. I glanced behind him; Gene was busy rubbing his waist, as if he had suffered a recent wedgie.

  “Yeah!” I muttered. “Got us covered, big guy?”

 I stopped myself. The way I asked Finn, it was so casual, like he was a friend or something.

 Finn was surprised too. He glanced at us, his eyes stopping at Felix.

  “Well, since Felix is one of the more popular kids,” he admitted. “I’ll let you go.”

 The five of us nodded frantically. Seamus was doing his best to not be noticed by Finn.

  “SCRAM!!!” Finn roared.

 Under normal circumstances, I would’ve stood my ground. But I was so hyper and crazy for action, I blasted off back to my room.

  “VICTORY!!!” I declared, entering the place like a champion. Brad and Francis were there, and the two of them stared at me like I was a psychotic man-child (which I was, at the moment, although without the man).

  “WHOA, whoa, Lloyd!” Brad muttered, holding his hands up. He was drawing the schematics of some gadget, probably for a prank.

 I snatched a bunch of my candy, feeling the need to celebrate. Unfortunately, they did nothing to calm me down; instead, they did the exact opposite, turning me on even more.

 I blurted out my entire story. Brad and Francis nodded a few times, trying to discern what I said.

  “Okay,” Brad said slowly. “I got, like, only a fourth of what you said… but what I now know is that you’ve just passed a rite of passage, man!” He hi-fived me. I nodded, shaking in a spasm of sugar.

  “Kay, kay, kay,” I muttered, nodding crazily. “What now?”

 He glanced at his watch. “Now’s lunch,” he muttered.

 

 Lunch was pretty uneventful. For the most part, I just ate, feeding my endless sugar rush. Spirius-3 glared at me with even more venom, annoyed by my craziness.

 After I was finished eating, I bolted back to the dorm. I was shaking, eager for action.

 I quickly found Felix in his room, reading Shakespeare while Gene went on about how he would get his revenge one day.

  “HEY GENE!” I yelled. Gene stumbled. “Ack!” he snarled. “KNOCK, Garmadon!”

 I twitched. “Whatever!” I glanced at Felix. “Felix Felix Felix FELIX!!!”

 Felix nodded towards me. “Yes, Lloyd?”

  “Got stuff to do?!”

 Felix shrugged. “Meh. Go ahead and do what you want. For now, I’ll be considering what to do now, now that we just have to wait for ‘Leave-the-school-day’.

 My right eye twitched uncontrollably, and I zoomed back to my room, pacing around crazily, giving in to the occasional fit.

  “What to do?!” I muttered to myself, picking at my nails. I cleaned up Francis’ tissues, bored and impatient. “Agghh….”

 An idea struck me. “George Krumm!”

 I had forgotten all about him that morning, which was pretty justifiable; I had gotten chased by a psychotic, electronic child-impersonator that night. I quickly shoved my hand underneath my bed, randomly yanking out the first thing I felt.

 I finally came up with the pencil case containing George Krumm. I flipped it open, and for a brief moment my sugar rush calmed down.

 Krumm had definitely grown even bigger. He was an entire centimeter in diameter, and he was so long he looped around the case, moving in an endless spiral.

 I whistled. “WHOA, Krumm!” I admitted. “You’ve grown! Like, HUGE, huge, huge!”

 I shook my head, hyper. I looked around, popping in a few twizzlers. Maybe the sugar could help my brain think. I needed a bigger container for Krumm, something a LOT larger.

 I instantly noticed my cardboard box. The thing was pretty huge, containing a bunch of school supplies, fresh laundry, whatnot. I instantly emptied the box’s contents, spilling it out onto my bed.

  “Dirt. NEED DIRT!” I glanced around, then shrugged. I grabbed the box, hauling it along. Time to make a trip outside.

 


	16. We watch our Coach and a visitor try to murder each other

 Afterwards, I came back, sweaty and exhausted. My sugar rush was drained out of me, kind of like Superman being given kryptonite. I had used up every last ounce of energy dragging along the giant dirt clod inside.

 I kicked the door open. Francis was inside, playing with one of those wooden paddles with a rubber ball attached with a string. “What’s with the dirt, Lloyd?” he asked. “Prank?”

  “Good idea,” I admitted. I set it down, plopping onto my bed and shoving school supplies aside. “HOO!”

 I rolled over, getting back to my feet. I opened the pencil case, dumping George Krumm and its contents inside. Krumm squirmed around, grateful for the new space.

 I snatched my can of enzymes. Prying it open, I sprinkled flakes twice; Krumm was getting huge, so he needed his vitamins.

  “Big boy’s gotta eat,” I muttered, wiping away my sweat. “Hey, Francis; Can I count on a clean tissue?”

 Francis handed me a fresh box. “Thanks.” I tore out a handful, using them to wipe away my sweat. Gross? Yes. Did I care? Not at all.

 I plopped myself back onto the bed, exhausted. Now what? Felix was busy deciding our next plan of action, now that we had to wait, like, a week or two. I forgot to ask when we would leave.

 I thought about yesterday. What happened to Nikon? Who was he? And he mentioned my dad and uncle…

 Wait. How could he have known them? My dad passed away centuries ago, so he’d have to be at least that old to have met him. I considered the fact that, since Nikon definitely WASN’T human, it sort of made sense.

 Then I remembered Spirius-1’s words; _Even before his evil, your father and uncle Lee and Wu made very many enemies. And many were terrible, indeed._

 I wonder…

 I immediately grabbed my encyclopedia. I rummaged my pockets for a pencil, took it out, and flipped it open, scribbling into my encyclopedia.

 In case you’re wondering; In order to find out about something, you had to write down what you wanted to know inside. Kind of like Voldemort’s diary. A part of me wondered if Metallicus had something to do with the book’s creation; It would explain a lot, considering the fact that he was most likely a Harry Potter fan.

 I thought about what the H2O being had mentioned; The Tower of Tears. Metallicus described it as a prison. Nikon also mentioned having been there, as well.

 My mind put together the clues. I wrote down ‘Tower of Tears’ inside.

 Black words emerged, at first shadows but now solid. I felt that hunger again, the same kind I felt during my first day at school; A need for knowledge. I licked my lips, and the dry, wrinkled pages felt so much more valuable between my fingers.

 Here’s what they said;

 

 

THE TOWER OF TEARS

 

 The legend of the Tower of Tears begins like this; According to Serpentine mythology, there were once two brothers, Leviathan and Colossus, born from the yin and yang of their all-powerful father.

 However, when Colossus betrayed his brother, Leviathan spilled tears from his eyes at the treachery. These tears, born from the hate, rage, and sadness of Leviathan, settled onto Ninjago and carved a prison, known as the Tower of Tears.

 There are no doors… no windows… no entrances. Everything is sealed, so said by the legends, and the Tower hangs at the edge of the world. According to these legends, only a true spinjitzu master knows how to get in and out.

 Lee, Wu, and Misako Garmadon, after discovering the Tower of Tears, made a deal with the aquatic beings. The trio of heroes would defeat the most powerful criminals, and hand them over to the Tears, who would freeze themselves with each victim, thus placing them in a sort of cryogenic stasis. For centuries, the Tower of Tears has been constantly growing, though none know why the Tears seek these criminals as a collection.

 

 

 I stared, shaking my head. “Whoa…” I muttered. “That… that explains EVERYTHING!!!”

 Francis stared at me, frowning. “What does?”

 I shook my head. “Nothing,” I explained, which wasn’t really explaining at all. I shook my head, secretly excited.

 It explained, well… everything, as I just said. I could imagine the scenario now; My parents and uncle meeting Nikon, defeating him. I could see those ‘Tears’ surrounding him, freezing along with the guy. I played the scene of the Dark Lord and Samukai destroying the Tower of Tears, Nikon escaping, arriving at the school and breaking in.

 I imagined that single Tear having escaped, too, and trying to warn me before disappearing. The rest played out in my head; Meeting Nikon, getting alone with him, the teachers; it all made sense for the first time in my life, and I was truly grateful.

 I finally understood it all. When Spirius-1 mentioned the enemies my dad and uncle made, he knew they were still alive, and maybe he, too, realized they were now free. The Dark Lord and Samukai had set off a group of time bombs waiting to blow in their bid to capture me.

 I frowned. I remembered Metallicus mentioning doing business with a ‘Samukai’… although what exactly, I had no idea.

 I took out my pencil again. The words on the pages faded away, as if sensing my next question.

 “GUYS! LOOK! IT-IT-IT’S… JUST… _LOOK!!!_ ”

 I nearly fell out of my bed. Francis wasn’t so lucky.

 I groaned. What _now_? I ran out of the dorm, and several other students ran to the window. We crowded around each other, and I didn’t hesitate to use force.

 I finally made my way to the window; or at least close enough. I squinted. There were two figures in front of the school, and it looked like they were fighting.

 “Hey!” Buzz muttered. “It-it’s Coach Yelatem!”

 I rubbed my eyes. He was right. It was our rabid, berserk, ex-boxer coach, the guy who got disqualified. With this knowledge in mind, I suddenly looked at Yelatem differently, now that he was no longer such a mystery.

 But then I noticed the other one. I stared.

 There was no way he was human.

 

 We all ran outside. Apparently, this time the teachers couldn’t hide us from another escapee. A dim part of me wondered why I was checking this new guy out, seeing as how he was probably from the Tower of Tears and wanted to destroy me or something.

 Yelatem and the two fought each other, at the base of the hill the school sat on. Even though Yelatem was landing some serious blows, they did little to faze the enormous dude towering over him.

 One word to describe him was ripped. Another would be six-armed. An excellent choice would be huge. And yet another would be hammy.

 He towered over Yelatem, at least eight or nine feet tall. He was covered head-to-toe in a trimmed, short coat of brown fur. He had six arms in total, and was ENORMOUSLY ripped, with biceps, triceps, all bulging, enormous, rock-like. He wielded an axe in each hand. He wore a black and tan fur around his hip, reaching up to his rib cage. Strapped over his chest with several belts and other things was a metal insignia; a hexagon-shaped, fanged mouth, with two gaping eyes that stared into your soul. A leopard skin was wrapped around his shoulders.

 Strapped over his bellybutton and waist was a giant, stuffed bull head. The guy wore an enormous, spiked cap made of metal, covered with a giant, frizzy, tan fur. Four floppy, leather-like flaps hung from his cap around his face, and the dude had jutting teeth and the most enormous, shaggy moustache I had ever seen.

 The guy roared, spinning his axes in his hands. Yelatem slowly back away, and when the six-armed guy swung, he ducked beneath his arms and slammed his head into his midsection, sending him back a feet or two.

 “RRRAAAGGHH!!!!” the six-armed guy roared. He had a buff, hammy voice, like a super macho wrestler that won the WWE ten times. “I am Kirchonn the Invincible! You can not beat me! HHNNGGGH!!!”

 He flexed all six of his arms at once, his muscles pulsing. Since he was covered head-to-toe in muscles, his body seemed to ripple like an ocean.

 “I AM NATHANIEL YELATEM!!!” Coach Yelatem roared, beating his chest like a gorilla. “I WILL CRUSH YOU!!!”

 Screaming in a berserk, frenzied rage, he slammed both fists at Kirchonn. Kirchonn dropped two of his axes, catching each of them in his palms. The two glared at each other, sweating as their muscles strained with fury. Kirchonn leaned forward, using his superior weight to his advantage. Yelatem’s feet dragged through the dirt, leaving a trail.

 Kirchonn suddenly let go, stepping out of the way. Yelatem, like a total moron, barreled forward, only stopping when he was about a mile away.

 Kirchonn grinned, glancing at us. We all backed away, and I began to wonder why I was here in the first place, risking my luck with what was obviously another escapee.

 “DRAIK!!!” he roared. “I’M COMING FOR YOU!!!” He barreled forward, each stride covering several feet-

 And slammed into an invisible wall, staggering and falling backwards before landing on his butt.

 “HUH?!” Kirchonn shook his head, dazed. Before he could register what just happened, Yelatem shot forward, slamming his head into Kirchonn. The berserk boxer rammed him into the invisible wall, pinning him.

 I noticed that everywhere Kirchonn touched the invisible wall, reality seemed to ripple. I remembered Metallicus mentioning a ‘barrier’ of sorts.

_So that’s what it is,_ I thought to myself. _I wonder…_

 Yelatem grabbed Kirchonn and slammed him into the wall several more times, cackling with glee. Kirchonn grunted, slamming two of his arms into Yelatem’s gut and grabbing his arms and legs with the rest.

 Even as our coach groaned in fury, Kirchonn raised him over his head and flung him at the barrier, expecting him to crash.

 He didn’t. Yelatem just passed through as if nothing was there, landing into the dirt. Kirchonn, surprised, stepped forward, testing the barrier. It worked.

 “WHAT THE- ?!”

 He glared at the doors beyond us. “DRAIK!!!!!” he screamed, easily beating the school bell in terms of loudness. “LET! ME! _IN!!!!!_ ”

 “This cuckoo sounds like he knows Draik,” Brad muttered. “Wonder who the heck HE is?!”

 I had an idea. I probably should’ve kept it to myself, but…

 “HEY!” I yelled over Kirchonn’s screams for Draik. “ARE YOU FROM THE TOWER OF TEARS?!”

 “What did you say?!” Richie muttered. Kirchonn roared even louder than Yelatem; at least, I think he did. Both were at least an equal match.

 Kirchonn stopped slamming into the barrier, surprised. Only he heard what I said. “YEAH!” he declared, flexing his muscles. “What’s it mean to ya, KID?!”

 Before I could reply, Yelatem vaulted forward, slamming his head into Kirchonn. “YYEEEAAAAAGGGHH!!!!!”

 “STOP THIS AT _ONCE!!!!_ ”

 All of us turned around to see Draik, accompanied by Metallicus and Frared. We all parted from the trio, and they walked through the barrier as if it didn’t exist.

 Yelatem kept on attacking Kirchonn relentlessly, the two wrestling in the ground. Draik rolled his eyes, and took out a long, slender piece of wood, a stick, mottled and at least nine or ten inches long. Sparks of energy formed at the tip, wreathed by smoke, and chains of energy lashed out, wrapping around Yelatem and dropping him aside, all wrapped up in a cocoon.

 Yelatem thrashed around angrily, his mouth covered as well. “EEEE WWWWRR RRRRSSHHH OOOO!!!!”

 I figured he meant ‘I will crush you’. I wasn’t sure.

 Kirchonn got up, and stared. “FINALLY!” he declared, grinning. “About time!”

 Metallicus looked up at Kirchonn. “Ah, another escapee, I presume?” he summed up. Kirchonn flexed his muscles proudly. “IN THE FLESH!!!”

 Draik snarled, lowering his wand. “What is the meaning of this, Kirchonn?!” he demanded. “I have worked hard to keep this school safe enough for the students to develop- now other escapees are trying to sneak their way in! You’re NOT helping, in case you’re wondering!”

 “Er… what Draik is meaning to say,” Frared said quickly, clearly intimidated. “Is that he wishes you wouldn’t disturb the students and get to the point!” Compared to Kirchonn, the guy looked like a stick figure.

 Kirchonn stroked his chin, nodding as he picked up his other axes. “Well, I just got out of-”

 Metallicus stopped him, glaring at us. “The children,” he reminded Draik. Draik shrugged. “So?”

 “I think it is best they do not know of Kirchonn’s intentions… thanks to Mr. Garmadon here, I now know that they’re attempting to learn our secrets.”

 I paled, and I felt the blood rush to my ears as everyone looked at me. I had forgotten all about telling Metallicus about the Search Gang, and now it was coming back to bite me in just a few hours.

  “ _What_ did Metallicus just say?!” Terrence demanded.

 I glared at everyone else, which was hard to do. “The guy was practically INTERROGATING me!” I retorted. Everyone except Terrence, Finn, Felix, and a few others calmed down in sympathy. I remembered how Gene supposedly meant to spy on me, so I considered pointing out that the teacher’s pet probably would’ve given it away eventually, but for some reason I didn’t. I still don’t know why to this day.

 “Hold on,” Brad said slowly. “Am I the only one who’s concerned about the fact that the school history teacher/librarian is not above threatening and interrogating CHILDREN?!”

 Now the rest calmed down, too. They couldn’t blame me; Metallicus was the kind of guy who probably wouldn’t hesitate to do ‘irreversible consequences’ (as Draik would call them) to me. Then again, didn’t Draik mention hurting me –too much- was forbidden? So who was to say Metallicus would’ve carried out the threat?

 Either way, no one cared anymore. Draik’s wand sparked with energy, and he flicked it. He and the others began talking away, but not a single sound could be heard except the wind and Yelatem’s muffled ranting. 

 Brad edged me with his elbow. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “Felix can read lips.”

 Unfortunately, Metallicus, Frared, and Draik were standing in just the right angle, so that no matter where Felix went, he couldn’t see their faces. Kirchonn, however, was facing them and was so tall that what he said was practically blatant. Felix stared intently at him, and for a moment, he paled.

 Finally, Draik turned, and raised his wand. It sparked, and he flicked it. Noise returned, and he flicked his wand a second time. The chains were gone, and Yelatem, who managed to gather up enough self-control, refrained himself from tearing off Kirchonn’s head.

 The five of them walked up the hill, as if Draik was taking Kirchonn somewhere. Without even glancing at us, they entered the school, Kirchonn having to bend over so he wouldn’t hit his head.

 We all stared at Felix. “WELL?!” we demanded. “What did he say?!”

 Felix nodded, still shocked from what he heard.

 “Kirchonn said he needed to find a man named Mangel,” he explained. “Supposedly, he’s his master, or something like that. He went on about having escaped a ‘Tower of Tears’ and needed help getting used to this ‘new world’…”

 He shook his head, confused. “Finally, he mentioned why he needed to see this Mangel; he said he needed an ‘upgrade’ of sorts…”

 Felix looked at me. “He said that he needed it to fight Wu Garmadon, your uncle.”

 


	17. I make myself look a lot smarter than I actually am

 Shocker? Well… not THAT much.

 Everyone gasped. They all backed away from me, as if I had some disease. Even Finn seemed wary; after all, if someone as ripped as Kirchonn needed an ‘upgrade’ to beat my uncle, who was, like, thousands of years old and probably an old geezer… imagine what _I’d_ be like.

 But still, I honestly wasn’t so shocked. The idea of another escapee, seeking out my uncle in vengeance? Old news. I already knew my uncle was still alive… so yeah. I was mildly impressed by the news, but not so much.

  “Uh… what?” I looked at the others. “No big deal. Everyone knows my uncle’s still alive.”

 It still felt like one, though. Knowing a family member was still alive, out there, active… a spark of excitement flared.

 Then a spark of anger flared as well. This guy… he was responsible for my dad not being there for me. He took him down. What if my dad was still alive? For all I know, I could be royalty, playing in some evil playground while my dad ruled the world!

 I shook the idea out of my head. That sounded like a stupid scenario; Really, I only wanted to be with him. I wanted to get out of this wretched, stinking, place.

  “What the heck is the Tower of Tears?!” a kid muttered. Gene raised his glasses.

  “I know,” he explained. “Since I AM the only one who pays so much attention to history!”

 I gestured at Gene. “Well, there you go,” I muttered. “This guy’s serving the answer on a silver platter.”

 Gene frowned at me, but nodded. He began to explain the legend about the Tower of Tears, and when he was finished, everyone nodded.

  “This guy just emerged from stasis of sorts?” Seamus asked. “Like… Star Fare! THE GUY’S AN ALIEN!!!”

 I wanted to object, but then again, Kirchonn was NOT human, that was clear. Still, I doubted he was from outer space; just really, REALLY long ago.

  “He’s from the past!” a kid pointed out. “So… TIME LORD!!!”

 We all began chattering excitedly. That super-ripped guy, named Kirchonn the Invincible; he came from thousands of years ago, and he supposedly fought my dad and uncle once.

 This was a major breakthrough for the Search Gang, and fate practically served it to us on a silver platter.

  “Let’s go back to the dorm, guys!” Finn decided, taking charge. “We’ll talk about this there!”

 We all nodded, swarming our way back to the dorm. We all crowded around at the couches, while Finn sat in a huge recliner; the throne.

  “So, Felix,” he said. “What’d you guys find out?”

 Felix nodded eagerly. “Well, we discovered that Coach Yelatem was once a boxer who tried to murder one of his opponents in the ring, and was disqualified for it!”

 Finn frowned. “That’s… it?”

 We frowned. I hated to admit it, but he was right. Based on Yelatem’s appearance and personality alone, this wasn’t such a hard thing to figure out after all.

  “STILL,” Felix interrupted. “We now know that this Kirchonn has escaped the Tower of Tears, and wants to destroy Lloyd’s uncle- no offense, Garmadon.”

 I shrugged. “None taken.” I was munching on a handful of candy, my hyperness being boosted. “Still,” I muttered. “Just a thought, but the legend says that only a true spinjitzu master can leave and enter, right?”

 Gene nodded. “Your point?”

  “This Kirchonn doesn’t know spinjitzu… or he would’ve used it!” I declared, getting a bit jittery. “So how the heck did he get out?!”

 I realized I wasn’t shaking just because of my sugar; it was because of my excitement. This was how I had always dreamed using my information; pretending to just be a genius theorist, while secretly leading everyone to the truth and leading myself to a decent reputation.

 Finn frowned. “Well, what’s the idea, dweeb?!” he snarled.

 I ignored him. “Either he had to use a spinjitzu master to get him out,” I theorized. “Or… something else! We know that the only evil Garmadon is my dead dad, so how could he have escaped?!… THE TOWER BLEW UP!!!”

 Everyone stared, confused.

 I tried to calm down. “What I mean,” I explained. “Is that as long as the tower’s in the way, Kirchonn’s trapped- but if it’s destroyed, not necessarily entered or exited like a spinjitzu master would, that means someone blew it up!”

 Realization dawned, and everyone stared at me. “Lloyd,” Felix said slowly. “You. Are. A. GENIUS.”

 Everyone began congratulating me. “Way to go, man!” they praised. Even Gene and Finn seemed impressed.

  “Guess you’re not so much of a dweeb after all,” Finn admitted. I blinked.

 I couldn’t believe it. Holding back my precious information worked out after all; I was becoming popular! Everyone now looked at me like some genius!

  “Must be that sugar fueling your brain, dude!” Diablo suggested, chuckling. We all laughed at his joke.

   “Man, if only Nikon were here!” Buzz muttered. I twitched at his name.

  “Nikon?” I muttered. “Uh, yeah… too bad, so sad. You snooze you lose!” my teeth chattered. I wondered if I would ever tell them the truth about Nikon.

  No, I thought to myself. If I told them then they would know I lied about that night- which would probably be a bad thing.

 For now, I would just celebrate the smart move I made, listening to my guts. I suddenly felt like a chess master; I had everything I needed, all the information. I had literally played the others into my hands, and now they saw me as that awesome kid who figured out this huge event that happened outside of school.

 I grinned. I might’ve been acting like an uncontrollable, hyper doofus, but I felt like the puppet master.

 

 I ran like a maniac all the way to Trexdis’ class room.

 Why was I going there? Because I wanted to tell her everything. It felt like forever since I got to sit down and just talk with her, and I wanted her to know that I was becoming exactly what I needed to be. Also, Trexdis told me to meet her last night, to discuss about the bug-eyed mummy, H2O being, and probably Nikon and Kirchonn as well.

 I arrived at her door. I knocked on it, and she appeared, unsurprised.

 She nodded at me, and we walked inside. Trexdis closed the door and pulled two chairs for us to sit in.

  “You’re wondering about Nikon, aren’t you?” she asked before I could speak.

 I hesitated- I had almost forgotten about him, since I figured he was gone forever and I had manipulated my classmates and met another escapee.

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “Did you…?”

 I wasn’t sure I wanted to say the word. True, Nikon had tried to kidnap me… but the concept of him being gone seemed to freak me out for some reason. Maybe I was feeling sympathy for the guy- I wondered if he could ever do the same in return.

 Trexdis looked away at the door, as if in deep thought. “He won’t bother you, not for a long while.”

 Well, way to be cryptic. But I guess I preferred it that way- I felt like I didn’t want to find out, and I didn’t need to, at least for now…

 There was a silent pause. I was suspicious- I hoped Trexdis would reveal everything to me, but I also doubted it- Metallicus and Draik seemed to be especially strict on not letting the students know, and they’d probably figure that I shouldn’t ‘know too much’.

  “I know all about the Tower of Tears.” I muttered. I figured that was all I needed to say- it meant I knew about the Tear, about the crystal-eyed mummy, Kirchonn, Nikon, the Halloween change- everything.

 Trexdis didn’t seem too surprised. “You’re a smart kid,” she admitted, rubbing my head. “And stay that way- but don’t let the teachers know, especially not about your Search Gang. Some are… sensitive about their pasts.”

  “Like you?” I guessed. Trexdis stiffened. I felt like breaking it to her- revealing Juriyn’s secrets and eavesdropping. But what if Trexdis got mad at her and the teachers did something to her…. Maybe as worse as what they might’ve done to Nikon.

 _Trexdis wouldn’t be that vicious,_ I reminded myself. But then it occurred to me that we didn’t know if Trexdis’ kindness was only limited to us- what if she had a bad side that would attack those she hardly knew?

  “I know how the Tower of Tears got destroyed,” I explained. “At least I think I do. I kind of also used my info to make myself look like some genius –long story- and now the others are praising me and think I’m cool.”

 At first, it seemed like such a great thing- but looking at Trexdis, I realized it was insignificant. The Tower of Tears housed villains, some as ancient as Ninjago itself, others a handful of decades. And the teachers had their pasts, their impact, and then there was Darkley and my grand-dad… really, it all made me feel small, puny, and helpless.

 Trexdis, however must’ve smiled. “I don’t care what others may say, Kid,” she told me. “Gene may have higher scores, Finn may be some freakish son of a mutant- but you’ve got cunning. You know what’s really important in this school, and it’s people like you that Darkley and Draik have been seeking for so long.”

 Wow… it felt good. Really good. It was like drinking victory, a sort of lifting sensation where you felt invincible; superior. It lasted briefly, but I couldn’t hold back that triumphant grin.

  “It means a lot to me, Trexdis,” I admitted. “Thanks.”

 I almost left, but there was still more. I thought about my dream last night- and how Trexdis told the others about the Dark Lord and Samukai. Should I tell her about my dreams? Could my dreams have something to do with that presence Metallicus mentioned- or was it just coincidence, like me catching the teachers having the entire discussion?

 I decided against it. What if the teachers kept their guard around saying important things whenever I was asleep? I might lose all my good luck- if I believed in such a thing.

 I sat up. “See ya, Trex,” I said. As I left the door, I heard Trexdis say under her breath, “I think your father, Lee, would’ve been a better hero than Wu.”

 I had that awesome feeling again.

 

 Soon enough, me, the Search Gang, and the rest of my friends were gathered at our table. The damage from ‘The Stuff’, a purple blob that I supposedly summoned at lunch two days ago (long story), had been completely erased. I wonder what kind of cleaning solution was that strong.

 Man… The Stuff. I hadn’t thought about it in only two days, yet it felt like eternity. Too much stuff had been happening to me, and I wasn’t so enthusiastic about that. Come to think of it, I wondered if The Stuff might’ve actually been an escapee from the Tower of Tears- who was to say I actually created it?

  “You know, Lloyd,” Gene told me in a business-like attitude that only Richie could defeat. “Considering how smart you’d have to be to piece together that much information, you should use your talents more in school, am I right?”

 I thought about that. “No.”

 Gene looked miffed, and everyone else laughed.

  “Two days and you’re already popular,” Brad noted. “You’ve really impressed me Lloyd- of course, I became popular in a few HOURS!”

 Hearing Brad’s words instantly reminded me of how he told me how he would try to teach me the basics of the school and how to survive. Already, it seemed like I no longer needed his help.

 Finn grinned, flashing that single tooth of his that was longer and sharper than the rest. “Say, Lloyd,” he muttered. “Remember how I told you about our partnership?”

 Yet another reminder of my first day. Being the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master, Finn suggested we could team up to make a duo of bullies. Personally, bullying wasn’t my thing, and the same could be said for a lot of the kids here, in fact. I don’t know why. Maybe it had something to do with loyalty towards fellow students- for all I knew, we could all be nastier as soon as we encounter someone outside of school.

  “Well, I’m not in the mood,” I replied carefully, trying to be casual. I didn’t want to anger Finn- his, Brad, and Felix’s word was law. “I mean, there’s not much to do, if you ask me- true, doing wedgies, stealing cash, and basically making this school even worse sounds cool and all, but I’m still new and I’ve got a lot on my plate.”

 It was true. I had more on my plate than a detective did, and it happened to me in about three days.

 Finn frowned, but shrugged it off. “It’s still open,” he reminded me, rubbing my hair. I was kind of annoyed, but then I wondered if Finn was such a bad kid- true, he was a jerk to all of us, but when you’re the son of a mutated mad scientist and live at this school, you have a lot to live up to.

 The teachers were casually sitting at their table, talking away. Trexdis seemed really thoughtful, and occasionally glanced at me. Spirius-3 kept glaring at me, though I was pretty sure it was because of the ‘Spinach Incident’, as I began to call it, and not last night.

 For the most part, dinner was uneventful. It was mostly people just congratulating me over and over. The food was okay, but generic- in fact, I can’t even remember what I ate, but I guess that’s okay- no one does that, and this was a few years ago.

 Finally, just as everyone was finishing their meals, Draik stepped up to the stage, clearing his throat.

  “WELCOME, students!” he replied cheerily. “I hope you’ve had a great weekend- well, no, not really!”

 He laughed at his joke.

  “Nonetheless, it’s that time of the week again… Training! Tonight, Metallicus shall give you a quiz on strategy and other scenarios when you are a villain!”

 Everyone groaned- they all hated Metallicus. Actually, we hated all of the teachers, except for Trexdis, and Scors could be tolerated at times, since he occasionally went to our defense.

  “Well, it’s time to throw away your trash!” Draik announced. “Now, we shall head off to the auditorium!”

  “So, on a scale of one-to-ten, how bad would you say ‘Training’ is?” I asked Brad as we threw away our lunches.

 Brad thought about it. “Ten doesn’t do justice.”

 


	18. Talking of the Future and Expectations

 The auditorium was enormous, row upon row of seats surrounding a single, wooden stage. Headlights shone above with intensity, like mini-suns.

 All of the teachers stood on the platform, while Spirius-1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 passed out enormous stacks of packets. I hoped Spirius-1 would hand me mine, but it was 2 who had the honor.

  “3 still hates your guts,” she whispered to me as she handed Richie his quiz.

  “Big surprise,” I muttered to myself. Once everyone got theirs, Metallicus spoke up.

  “Villainy, in itself, is a lot of hard work,” he explained. “Automatically, everyone is against you, and even fellow villains will see you as an obstacle and/or rival. Obviously, you can’t be the most powerful person, and you must rely on cunning and alliances to actually survive. And of course, you need a motive.”

  “Tonight, this quiz shall review your cunning and intellect. You will be tested to see if you know how to react and what to do in a given situation, who to choose as an ally, et cetera. And don’t take this as a simple quiz- this is but a sample, an hor d’oeuvres of what terror you must face at adulthood.”

 I rolled my eyes. Most of his words went through one ear and out the next.

  “You may begin.”

 I was in no rush to finish the quiz, which was a good thing, because these questions were like agony to the brain. Here’s the first one;

 

  * Your opponent, a martial artist who has a stone that with one touch can destroy you, has made his way into your fortress with two samurai. He and his motley crew have been a particular pain, defeating everything you throw at him. You can teleport and shoot beams of energy (from your palms and eyes), and can age indefinitely. What do you do?



 A. Go in and destroy him yourself. You can hit him from a distance, but he can’t.

 B. En masse your minions into that single place he’s in. He’ll eventually be overwhelmed.

 C. Propose a treaty, then steal the stone from him before destroying the jerk.

 D. Escape the fortress, constantly evading him until he dies of old age.

 

 Ugh. I had no idea what to choose- they all made sense to me. I secretly hoped I would ace the quiz- Trexdis had already went on about how ‘cunning’ I was, and I wanted to impress her even more.

 I looked at C, and crossed it out. What if the loser just attacked you as soon as you were within striking distance? He’s a martial artist, so he can strike so fast you can’t teleport in time. Then I decided D was stupid as well- he could just give the stone to someone else, and constantly running away would be so humiliating your minions would probably resign and you’d be powerless.

 I grinded my teeth at A and B. Man, this was too reminiscent of science tests. Finally, I decided to choose A- the jerk clearly could fight off several minions at once, and he’d probably give the stone to a samurai and have him sneak up on you in your throne while you were rooting your army. For A, you could just teleport several feet behind his friends and blast them all at once before they’d notice you.

 The rest of the quiz sucked. Most of the time, I thought I chose correctly, but Metallicus was so evil he probably designed the questions to be like that.

 I didn’t even get to finish the quiz when the school bell rang. Immediately, the Spirius robots began floating, scuttling, and slithering around, grabbing our packets.

  “Well, that sucked,” I muttered to Brad. He shrugged.

  “It’s supposed to. Being a villain isn’t a piece of cake, and this quiz is kindergarten compared to the real deal. At least you have a list of choices, with one ‘right’ answer. In real life, you’ve got nothing.”

 Man… he sounded bitter. The only time I heard him sound like that was two nights ago, at my first day here, after he put fire ants in my bed.

 Long story.

 Finally, when all of the quizzes were packed up into several enormous crates right next to Metallicus, the stupid guy cleared his throat.

  “I hope you actually used your brain this time,” he sneered. “You see, there is a difference between being street smart, and book smart. Book smart is knowing facts, and while that is admirable, it’s not necessary. But with street smarts, that involves cunning, strategy, and logic- clearly, this is the superior one. This quiz can’t be studied for- it is based entirely on your own rationality and decision. So I hope you didn’t decide to send Joe the Bristle Fish for question eleven.”

 At least a fourth of everyone in the auditorium groaned.

 An enormous tarp, several meters in length and width, rolled down from above, covering the wall behind the teachers. They moved aside as an enormous image of the first page of the test appeared.

  “The answer would be A,” Metallicus said bluntly. I did a silent yes, and several others celebrated quietly.

  “D would be a foolish option- your arch-nemesis can easily pass the stone down to another, even greater warrior… maybe one who can catch up to you. And running like a coward? You’ll lose the faith of your army and your reputation so quickly that you’ll be the laughingstock of Ninjago. Your minions would abandon you in their ridicule.”

  “C is just as stupid. You’re basically within striking distance, not ready to attack. Your opponent is a martial artist, which means he could move so quickly with his stone that you wouldn’t be able to even notice, much less escape, the attack. And there’s no way he would trust you- you’re a backstabbing, cowardly murderer. There’s not much that would incite such a sudden change of heart other than Deus Ex Machina.”

  “B shows you have no memory of your previous attempts, or simply ignore the past. As Einstein once said, ‘Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ If you think constantly sending in yet another minion is going to actually help you win, then you are either stupid, or by Einstein’s definition insane. And who’s to say one of his friends will sneak off with the stone and chuck it at you while you’re busy watching the whole thing?”

  “A is the right choice. You can attack from a distance, and the stone needs to make contact with you. Your opponents lack any ranged weaponry, but you have an infinite amount of beams that can come from your eyes and palms, giving four in total. And by attacking from a distance, it would take longer for, say, if the stone was thrown at you to strike. Or you could just silently teleport a decent distance behind them and shoot your enemies all at once while they’re too busy discussing how to defeat you to notice their incoming deaths.”

 Wow. I never noticed it before, but Metallicus seemed to think a lot like me… true, he was more in-depth with his logic, and my reasoning was a bit more simple… but it was the same gist- D would humiliate you, C would put you at the jerk’s mercy, and B would be a disastrous repeat.

 Metallicus began going through the rest of the questions. As far as I was concerned, I got a pretty decent grade for a first time. Eventually, though, my eyes glazed over and I nearly fell asleep as Metallicus got into the rest of the questions I didn’t get to answer.

 Before we were allowed to leave, he told us one more thing.

  “Do remember- I don’t care how many questions you got right, or how many you did. What I do care about is the overall success rate, and your reasoning. I care about why you chose what you did- if you did it because it was honestly the most logical thing to you, then that shows you are on your way to cunning. I want you to prove your cunning, not through grades but through real life scenarios as well.”

 Metallicus nodded. “You may go now.”

 He and the teachers stood there, watching us as we all got out of our seats, limbs aching. I yawned glad to finally get a good night’s sleep after all the crazy things that happened to me. Man, I was already beginning to keep a log about the insane stuff that went on each day at school-

 

Day 1: I get kidnapped by a skeleton, taken to Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys, learn about my ancestry, get a pet worm, meet the people there, and summon The Stuff.

Day 2: I make a costume, get spied on by a crystal-eyed mummy, meet a Tear in the bathroom, and get ambushed by a Tower of Tears escapee planning to take me to a ‘mistress’.

Day 3: I begin the first Search Gang mission, develop my own quirk, get interrogated in the library, learn about the Tower of Tears, meet yet another escapee, become popular, and ace a quiz.

 

 I groaned. Man, this wasn’t fair. I wanted to worry about other stuff normal kids did, like grades, sports, allowance, crushes, ordinary things. Instead, I had to become a cunning criminal mastermind, be on good terms with a mutant bully, and avoid capture by deranged prisoners from a million years ago.

 Back at the dorm, we lounged around at the chairs. I fed myself a bunch of Crunch bars- I felt I deserved it, and all the candy in the world for that matter.

  “Man, I hate Metallicus’ quizzes almost as much as I hate the Coach’s ‘training regimens’,” Buzz groaned, rubbing his forehead.

  “I’ve got migraines!” Seamus agreed. “Like an alien unleashed a mental blast on me!”

  “You know, I’ve always wondered,” Diablo admitted. “What happens to us when we get older?”

  “Whatddya mean, Sanchez?” Terrence asked.

  “What I mean is that we certainly won’t be staying here forever. Sooner or later, we’ll have to ‘graduate’, and then what?”

 Man, Diablo asked some of the best questions. We all squirmed uncomfortably. The future had already frightened us- what kind of terrors would we grow up into? Would we still serve the teachers, or would we be… free?

 The idea sounded so alien to me I nearly spat it out of my mouth. With that in mind, it was pretty sad, our fate- destined to be hated by all of Ninjago for all eternity.

 And that was when I felt bitter. It wasn’t fair _they_ had all the lucky breaks- we had to grow up into masterminds and criminals, they were free to do what they wanted to, and blamed us for what Darkley started, that old coot.

  “I don’t know,” Richie muttered. “Maybe we still live here, or close by, and take orders from them and do missions?”

  “Maybe we get to be free and do whatever evils we want to,” Lupus suggested. I liked that idea best- teaching the people outside that we were something be reckoned with.

  “Maybe we just wait somewhere else,” Finn muttered bitterly. “Or there’s a second school, where we do stuff that’s even worse… you know the tale of David Cross? I always wondered how he had access to magic. Maybe he got it at this place.”

 David Cross… if anyone was to be this Dark Lord that had teamed up with Samukai, he was my number 1 suspect. The guy was supposedly some myth, a rumor, but Juriyn confirmed it as true. The legend states that Cross was the Darkley’s version of a ‘Golden Boy’ and a pretty nasty piece of work. Eventually, he dabbled in dark stuff even Draik avoided, tried to rebel, but was taken down. He then escaped, vowing revenge.

 Him being the Dark Lord made so much sense I couldn’t imagine who else it’d be. They both needed me for some evil plan- probably something like ransom, or to get revenge on the school. They both sounded like pretty dark and shadowy characters, although Metallicus said that was a bit too vague a description. And of course he’d want to torment the place with all of these escapees, although it looked like some, like Kirchonn, were actually on friendly terms.

  I wondered if I could ever respect the guy- true, he had the guts to rebel against Draik, who definitely deserved all the bad stuff that happened to him, and worse. But that was because he had been rejected for doing stuff even worse than that guy. I guess even Evil had standards.

  “Well, either way I have a feeling it’s going to be hopeless for us,” Brad admitted sadly, and that thought really depressed us. “Sometimes I want to run away, right guys?”

  “I heard Kyle Germa once did, but then he got tranqed by Spirius-10 and dragged back here, where Metallicus practically buried him alive with, like, a million detentions!” Richie pointed out.

  “So is that it, then?” Felix asked. “Are we to be forever condemned to this twisted fate, in the hopeless servitude of such monsters like Draik, destined to carry out his tragic goals?”

  “Did anyone know about their parents?” Francis asked. I blinked. The guy… man, I always thought he was just a lunk of stupidity all wadded up.

 Finn tapped away at the recliner’s armrest. “I did,” he admitted. There was a hint of a bittersweet feeling. “I remember her… red hair, blue eyes like mine. Then some guys came in, wearing armor…”

 He shook it off, disturbed. “Then Metallicus and the others came and told me all about my dad. They said he was gone, probably going to rot away forever. I’ve been here almost as long as I can remember…”

  “I’ve heard rumors about my father being the leader of a powerful organization,” Gene explained. “I was an infant when my mother supposedly died… I was taken into an orphanage, and got taken here by Arakchos.”

  “The same goes for me, too,” Felix agreed. “Except I was taken by Frared, and have little to no clue as to who my father was. I sometimes suspect that Trexdis and the others know…”

  “I arrived at the orphanage in a basket,” I explained. “Cliché, and I agree. Ms. Chafer tried giving my last name, Garmadon, to the police and with no luck. Then I was taken here and I learned all about both of my parents.”

 I felt pretty spoiled. The others knew little to nothing about their parents, and all Finn knew was that his dad was an evil scientist called the Insect Master who mutated himself and was now supposedly rotting away in some cell.

 Then a thought struck me…

  “They said your dad’s rotting away?” I asked Finn. He glared at me. “What’s it mean to you, Dweeb?” he snarled.

  “Well, it sounds like they said he was in a prison, right guys?” Everyone mumbled in agreement.

  “And this Insect Master sounds pretty powerful. Dangerous to all of Ninjago, I might add.”

  “Get to the point!” Finn seemed really touchy on the subject of his dad, and I didn’t blame him at all. In fact, I was surprised he didn’t walk over and give me an atomic wedgie.

  “So what if your dad was in a prison… the Tower of Tears?!”

 Everyone stared at me as the thought settled in.

  “It’s a place for the most dangerous criminals on the planet, and your dad seems to fit the bill,” I said. “And if he’s that powerful, how come Draik didn’t break him out of some human prison and use you as ransom –no offense- and force him to do his bidding? Because no one can break him out! He’s in the Tower of Tears, and now that it’s blown up…”

 The edges of Finn’s mouth twitched crazily, like his lips were having a seizure. “You know, I’ll give it to you, Dweeb,” he admitted. “Gene’s got nothing on you.”

  “Hey!”

 Finn immediately sat up and stalked off, probably to silently celebrate alone.


	19. My Family created the World and then nearly destroyed it several times

 After changing, brushing my teeth, and saying goodnight to George Krumm, I got into bed. Francis turned off the lights and hopped back into the covers.

  “Man, it’s felt like forever since I first met you guys at the Boarding School for Bad Boys,” I yawned. “Now that I think about it, I probably should’ve studied this weekend. I’ve got five days of school ahead of me, and Metallicus won’t give me any mercy for sure.”

  “It’s justifiable,” Brad told me. “Making that awesome costume, Halloween, getting knocked out by the creep, the Search Gang, Kirchonn, and training. You’ve had a lot on your plate.”

 At first, I was wondering what Brad meant about Metallicus knocking me out, until I remembered about my bluff about Nikon.

  “I miss Nikon,” Francis muttered nostalgically. We all nodded, but I for one didn’t mean any of it.

  “You know, this feels so cool, talking about our time here in this school at night,” Richie admitted. “Am I right, guys? It feels like we’re veterans from battle, discussing how we fought nice and gallant.”

  “I like the idea of gallant,” Francis agreed. “You need to be gallant to handle school!”

  “This school, especially,” I added. We all laughed.

  “Well, good night, guys,” I told them. “I’m going to need all my sleep to survive a single class with Metallicus, much less the entire day.”

We laughed one more time, and promptly fell asleep, dead to the world.

 

 Believe it or not, but I had a regular, good night’s sleep. No dreams, just pure, unconscious pleasure.

 I deserved it. For the last three days I’ve been stressing about grades, deranged sociopaths from a million years ago, and unlocking the secrets of the school.

 And now, I could finally relax and-

  “RRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!”

 I was instantly jolted into reality, which did NOT make me happy, in case you wanted to know.

 I heard everyone else groan, and I joined them.

  “That felt too short,” Richie whined.

  “You’ve got it lucky,” I grumbled. “At least you’re not on the Search Gang, or the new kid!”

  “Well, let’s get going, guys,” Brad muttered unenthusiastically. Moaning, we picked up our limbs and dropped them at the side of our beds, slowly waking up. I went off to the bathroom, relieved myself, did my morning hygiene, and went back. By then, the others were finished changing their clothes, and Richie went after me.

 I changed in my clothes (the others turning around without looking), and I waited for Brad, Richie, and Francis to brush their teeth. As I sat in my bed, I grabbed George Krumm’s food flakes and took out his box, opening it.

  “Let’s see…” I reached my hand inside, digging through the dirt. I finally grabbed George Krumm and dragged him out.

 Whoa.

 He was, well… ENORMOUS. He was about the width of a sausage, and who knows how long? I realized it must’ve been because Krumm was born from a combination of wood, metal, graphite, synthetic rubber, and mutagen- he certainly wasn’t any ordinary worm, at the very least.

 I whistled. “You’re growing even more quickly than a caterpillar, Krumm!” I said. I pried the canister open and poured what I felt was a decent amount of flakes for Krumm to eat, and closed the box. After washing my hands, I met up with Brad, Richie, and Francis, and we headed to the cafeteria.

 For a brief moment, everything seemed pretty normal and generic (or at least as ‘normal and generic’ you can get to in this school), which for me was a pretty big deal. The teachers were at their table, Yelatem ruthlessly tearing apart his breakfast while Scors drowned himself with way too many cups of coffee.

 Metallicus and Trexdis were closely chatting to each other, even though they were pretty much polar opposites- they kept on glancing at me, and I instantly remembered how Trexdis mentioned I was ‘really cunning’ for such a young kid. And Metallicus had also gone on with yet another stupid speech about cunning. Maybe they were talking about me?

 Either way, I seemed to be the subject of this school’s gossip, which was a good thing as of now, and I sincerely hoped it would stay that way.

  “Well, time for yet another uneventful and generic day at school,” Brad groaned sadly. With my luck, I was kind of doubtful about Brad’s prediction, but I still held hope for it.

  “Man, it seems like forever since we arrived at the auditorium and met ya, Lloyd!” Terrence commented, and he was spot-on. I had quickly fit in with the rest of the kids like peanut butter with jelly.

  “I wonder when we’ll have another new student, assuming anyone else has just as bad luck as us,” Buzz wondered, smearing strawberry jam over his toast.

  “Too bad we didn’t give Lloyd a proper initiation,” Finn admitted. “But you know, you were kind of the grandson for the First Spinjitzu Master, and me the Insect Master, so I figured I could let you pass.”

  “Thanks for that,” I said. I blinked- just this Saturday Finn and I were bitter enemies, and now we were like nostalgic best buddies.

 Come to think of it, I guess we weren’t too different. Both of our fathers had supposedly died (although I knew my dad did, for sure), and both were powerful criminals. We barely had any experience with our mothers, and we were adopted by the boarding school when we were incredibly young. We both had strange powers –Finn had his mutagen, and I could summon The Stuff- and were both getting pretty popular. And we both had that sort of bitterness against the world for neglecting us at this school for so long…

 I nearly did a comparison with me and Metallicus, but I decided I wasn’t ready for THAT, not yet.

  “Well, cool or not,” Felix decided. “We must indulge Garmadon with the basics of our history- this is pretty much the only subject that catches neophytes off guard and threatens their sanity.”

  “I’m still sane,” I noted, popping some candy into my mouth. Already, I felt a sugar rush coming up, but I let it come anyway- I needed the energy.

  “Well, let us begin with Gene’s Summary of the Ancient Past for Dummies,” Gene announced, cracking his knuckles. He took out a notebook he had brought along and flipped the pages open, took a huge breath, and went on a roll.

  “A man named Kin Garmadon discovered the Golden Peaks and created the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu –Dragon Sword of Fire, Nun-chuks of Lightning, Scythe of Quakes, and Shurikens of Ice– and spinjitzu, a martial art that lets you create tornadoes of energy around yourself as you attack. He made Ninjago, but then the Overlord was created from the imbalance between light and shadows and attacked with his Stone Army. Eventually, Kin trapped the Army, banished the Overlord to one side of Ninjago, and sank it.”

  “Kin then made the Serpentine, and invited his fellow humans over. He also married a woman named Jasmine. However, all sorts of monsters and beings came along, including Phantoms, souls who could not be truly destroyed and could inhabit suits of armor and other objects, beings from the Monster Realm, a pocket dimension, and other terrors.”

  “Eventually, Kin taught Spinjitzu to several Elemental Ninja Clans. However, they got greedy and started a brutal war, and during said war a plague came that wiped out several humans. However, since Serpentine were immune to it, their blood was used to make a cure, and with a superior population they began to dominate Ninjago. The war ended when the Council of Warlocks and the Ice Clan plotted to create a powerful beast, and somehow acquiring a fragment of the Overlord’s power, crafted the Great Devourer, an immortal serpent. It caused untold destruction, finally ending the war before Kin sealed it away in Ourobouros, the capital of the Serpentine.”

  “The clans disbanded and the Warlocks fled to the Monster Realm, where Kin eventually destroyed them. Then he had two sons, Lee and Wu, who helped protect Ninjago. However, Lee was bitten by an infant Great Devourer as a child, and was destined to be corrupted by its evil. Meanwhile, a war between the humans and Serpentine sparked when several of them, reasons unknown, attacked the Garmadons under orders of their leaders.”

  “Called the Nezkon War, it was even worse than the Great Spinjitzu War. Eventually, however, the Sacred Flutes were created and managed to drive back the Serpentine. Kin, having forgiven them yet fearing the wrath of his fellow humans would be too great with the Sacred Flutes, sealed them away in five tombs filled with stasis-inducing gases, and when humanity had forgiven them, he would release them.”

  “However, during the journey, he disappeared, and while many believe he has passed away somehow, no one knows for sure.”

  “Then Lee finally turned corrupt by the venom of the Devourer, but not before marrying a woman named Misako. He tried to steal the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu but passed away in a fight with his brother, Wu. The Garmadons disappeared, and Wu hid the Golden Weapons away. Then came the catastrophe of the mass Volcano Storm when several volcanos erupted at once, and several villages, countless records were burned, and soon Ninjago’s true history had been forgotten.”

  “Whoa whoa WHOA,” I chattered. Yep. My sugar rush was on for sure. “T-that’s TOO much for me, like having to memorize the names of everyone in books like the Odyssey and other loads!”

 Gene snorted. “Just like a few of the other new kids. You get used to it.”

 He then began repeating the entire thing to me, and I have to confess- I had a few blanks thanks to my sugar rush.

 Half-way through the tenth repeat, Draik walked onto the stage, carrying his golden goblet. “Welcome, students!” he declared happily. “I hope you had a most interesting weekend- what with Halloween and our odd visitor!”

 Everyone began to murmur about Kirchonn.

  “Well, we shall depart to the auditorium now!”

 Draik and the teachers joined each other and began to lead all of us as we got out of our seats, crowding against each other in the hallways. I was already sweating from my hyperness, but now I was practically boiling.

 We eventually opened out into the auditorium, where we sat into our seats. I fidgeted nervously, Brad played with a rubber spider, Gene reviewed his notes, Finn gave another kid a noogie, Francis picked his nose, and we all generally did something to cause minor chaos.

 Draik got up to the stage, and smiled. The teachers had left off to their classrooms.

  “Welcome, students of Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys!” he declared, transforming into a human with neck-length, brown hair, a thin moustache, glasses with pink lens, and casual clothing. He looked a lot like Johnny Depp.

 We all sat up, and began to recite the stupid pledge. It was kind of creepy and corny at the same time. Here’s how it went;

 

_I pledge my allegiance and loyalty,_

_To his all-powerful sorcerer Darkley,_

_And vow to keep his legacy immortal,_

_Pass his reign to our descendants,_

_And, finally, force his great nemesis,_

_His slayer,_

_To continue his duty forever_

 

 Once we were done, we sat down, and Draik went on a roll.

  “I hope you had a great Halloween! As you may have noticed, we worked hard to make it as great as possible, with Mr. Frared’s prank, Coach Yelatem’s Hall of Pain, and the décor!”

 This was old news from two days ago, but no one corrected Draik on that. It was a stupid, hazardous, and most-importantly, optional idea.

  “Speaking of which, you may have noticed out visitor, Kirchonn the Invincible! In case you were wondering, Kirchonn merely needed a favor from me, and I helped! He has left the school, in case you hadn’t seen him do so!”

_There goes any questions for him,_ I thought to myself. Kirchonn seemed pretty brutal, true, but he was apparently on pretty good terms with Draik, so for all I knew, he might’ve answered my questions. Then again, he might not have known that Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master and son of Lee Garmadon, was there and right next to him.

  “Today, Metallicus will have you start a project in History on the generals of the Great Spinjitzu War!” Draik continued. “I hope you actually listened to him about it last Friday, because you would’ve had an entire weekend to study the subject and prepare!”

  “Coach Yelatem also plans to introduce his own version of boxing during gym, so beware- ahem, _prepare!_ ”

 He clapped his hands together, flashing a charismatic grin. “Have a good day at school today, students!” He morphed back into his bat form and flew off into the shadows of the auditorium.

 I groaned. “Great. My second day actually attending the classes at school, and I’m hit in the face with a project on the hardest subject in the world!”

  “Coach’s introducing us to a new brand of boxing, eh?” Terrence muttered. “Probably involves flames, like dodge ball last Friday.”

 Long story.

 We arrived at our lockers, where we entered our combinations and took out our stuff and backpacks. I had already stuffed my textbooks inside my Star Fare backpack when I made Krumm’s new home.

 Reminded of Krumm, I went over to Finn.

  “Hey, Finn, remember the pet worm you gave me last Friday?”

 Finn frowned. “Yeah, Dweeb?” he asked.

  “He’s grown HUGE,” I explained, trembling a bit from my sugar rush. I told him about how quickly Krumm had grown.

  “By the time you’re an adult, that mutagen of yours could probably turn flies into giant monsters in hours, minutes, SECONDS, dude!” I joked, fidgeting like a maniac. Finn, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be in as cheerful a mood.

  “That’s weird,” he muttered. “The last time I kept one of my creations as a pet, it just grew normally.” He shrugged. “I must be getting more powerful,” Finn grinned at the idea.

 I was so hyper I didn’t care. Slinging my backpack on like a lunatic, I ran towards the rest of my class with Finn.

  “And so we depart to our home territory,” Felix announced. “Like dramatic heroes –or villains- returning from brutal quests!” We followed Felix to Frared’s classroom, chattering crazily on the way.

 

 Mr. Frared was waiting in the classroom for us, sitting behind his dark, wooden desk, a bunch of old-school apples he probably bought for himself placed on the front. Behind him was a giant chalkboard, and I could already feel my ears ringing from that terrible screeching noise you get from using chalk.

 Luckily, I wasn’t the last one to get inside, so I sat near the back with Brad and the others.

  “Well, it’s a Monday,” Diablo sighed sadly. “The Weekend always seems too short, right guys?”

 I chattered my teeth to show my sympathy- I was still extremely hyper. Brad began rubbing his chin. “Hey, I wonder…” he thought to himself. He brightened up.

 “Maybe we can all put the same name on our papers, like ‘Bob’ or something, to confuse Mr. Frared!”

  “Nah,” Terrence muttered. “That kind of prank isn’t up to your standards, Tudabone! Anyway, to tell the truth, I have a feeling he’ll just bring it to Metallicus and that guy will figure out whose belongs to who by our HANDWRITING!”

 He shuddered, and I agreed. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Metallicus had to remember our handwriting by heart, although I guess you could say we kind of deserved it.

 When everyone got into their seats, Mr. Frared spoke up.

  “Okay, class!” he announced. “Good morning!”

 He paused, expecting us to say ‘Good morning, Mr. Frared!’ or something like that.

 All he got was a belch from Lupus.

 Mr. Frared shrugged. I guess by his standards, a belch was the best he could hope for. “Okay, let’s take attendance!” He took out a clipboard and a pen.

  “Brad Tudabone!”

  “In the flesh!”

  “Terrence Filachi!”

  “Here in bodily presence, not here in mind!”

  “Gene Technos!”

  “Here!”

  “Lloyd Garmadon!”

  “HAHAHA!!!”

  “Lupus Yhtlif!”

 Lupus belched.

  “Finn Ayabbers!”

  “I’m not invisible, am I, Mr. Frared?”

  “Felix Ramses!”

  “With a startling presence that juts out of the atmosphere of ordinary-ness!”

  “Diablo!”

  “Uh- FIFTY SEVEN!”

 And so on.

 When Mr. Frared was done, he set down his clipboard routinely and grabbed some chalk.

  “Okay, class,” he explained. “I want you to get a sheet of paper and a pencil! No pen, please…”

 After we did that, he began writing on the chalk-board. I braced myself for the scraping noise.

  “Okey-dokey, class, so first I’m going to do –SKKREE- times 64! First, I multiply –SKREE- by seven, place the –SSKKTTCHH!- here, and the 2 above five! Then I do –SKCCC- by 4, place the 0 next to 8, and place –SKEE- over 2!”

 Mr. Frared continued on, oblivious to the fact that the chalk kept on making so many screeching noises against the board that drowned out most of his words. Maybe he had already developed an immunity to it over the years, because I kept on cringing.

 Finally, when he was done, he faced us. “Okay, class!” he said cheerfully. “So the answer is 16,448! I hope you took notes and copied down the problem, answer, and work –most important of all!- onto your paper!”

 I looked at Brad’s. His had sketches for pranks, Mr. Frared being the primary target. Buzz was drawing food. Diablo scribbled doodles randomly, Gene was actually writing down the problem, Terrence and Francis had crumpled theirs up and were throwing them at each other, goofing off, Richie was doing some sort of weird math with what looked like prices, Finn was chewing pieces of his and spitting it at the back of another kid’s head, and Seamus was drawing down sketches of aliens.

 I looked at mine. It was filled with a bunch of random scribbles and scratches, like any sugar-fueled kid would do.

 Frared didn’t notice, or maybe he did, but knew it was inevitable anyway. “All right!” he said cheerfully. “Who wants to pass out worksheets?”

 Only Gene raised his hand.

  “ _Okay…_ ” Mr. Frared said slowly, handing them all to Gene. He began passing them out with efficiency, and eventually went back to his seat, finished.

 Mr. Frared got into his seat. “Okay, class!” he said cheerfully. “Just work on this for today! What you don’t finish is homework!”

 He flipped his laptop open and began typing furiously on it. I wondered what teachers did when they went on their computers while we did homework- were they messaging their friends on Headbook? Typing down diabolical plots to drown us in homework? Sending reports on our behavior using email?

 I looked at my worksheet. Most of it was word problems. Great. I flipped it over, and it had twelve questions. Yippee.

 I tried to focus on each problem, but my mind and body didn’t feel like doing it. I was too hyperactive from sugar, and every time I read one my mind fell asleep halfway and I wasn’t even sure what my mouth was saying.

 Some of the questions were really, weird, too- one of them said,

 

_9) Max went to Burger King and bought 84 mattresses for 50 cents each. Assuming he had a coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond that lowered the price by half for every tenth mattress Max bought in a single purchase, how much money did he spend?_

 

 What the HECK?! Who would buy 84 mattresses at Burger King, and why would BK have mattresses?! And at 50 cents, too… and a Bed, Bath and Beyond coupon shouldn’t work at BK!

 I thought about that. Maybe it was a trick question, concerning the part about the coupon- maybe it DIDN’T work, and so I just had to multiply it normally.

 A lot of the other questions didn’t make as much sense, with you having to use weird equations to solve problems like ‘How tall is this ladder’ when you could just get out a ruler. I wondered why the people in the problems were so stupid, although looking back I guess you could say I was missing the whole point of the actual questions themselves.

 I managed to fuel my sugar rush into solving problems, and soon enough I was finished. I looked around, shrugged, and turned mine in. When I returned to my seat, I sat down- and it collapsed.

 There was a crash and I was left, dazed, sitting on a pile of metal and wood. Everyone stared, and Brad snickered. Mr. Frared jumped from the noise, leaned back, and his chair fell over.

  “Mr. Garmadon!” he stammered, getting out of his chair and trying to look a bit more dignified as he made his way over to me. “Are you okay?”

  “Bleggh… Y-yeah!” I replied, stammering from my sugar rush and not because I was scared or anything.

 Mr. Frared glared at Brad. “Mr. Tudabone, you should set an example for the new student!” he growled.

  “It’s a Boarding School for BAD Boys,” he replied smoothly. “I AM making an example!”

 By now, everyone was laughing at me, but I didn’t get mad- Firstly, because I was too dazed from my sugar rush, and also because I knew this was just a friendly prank- not out of spite or anything. Plus, if this happened to someone else like Buzz, I probably would’ve laughed, because things like this were funny.

 So I let out a few hyperactive chuckles and got to my feet, brushing myself off.

 After Mr. Frared made Brad fix my desk, he went over to me.

  “S-So, how’d you do it?” I chattered crazily. “I know it was, like, when I turned in my test, but, like, how?!”

 Brad shrugged. “Normally a master doesn’t reveal his tricks,” he replied. “But this is basic stuff!”

 He took out a wrench. “I traded it with Richie- I handed him a homework coupon and a pack of gum. I just unscrewed a few bolts and hoped you were heavy enough.”

  “Yeah, Richie gives me some wheels for my Skate-board if I trade him some oil I use to loosen it!” Terrence added, leaning over.

  “I get tissues by giving him fancy hats!” Francis replied.

  “All I do is help Richie with homework and maybe pass him some of my lunch and he’ll get me the latest mint-copy of Star Fare!” Seamus said.

  “Y-Y-You’ve got the LATEST?!” I stared at Seamus. “WOO! Mind if I have a look!”

 Seamus nodded, the antennae on his insectoid rubber mask waving around. “But you have to put on a special suit I got from Richie and read it in my room, so as to not contaminate them!”

  “Sounds like our clever acquaintance Mr. Rich has created his own little business system in this school,” Felix said thoughtfully, leaning over. “Perhaps we could investigate… nah. We can do it later.”

  “Say,” I muttered. “Some of the stuff Richie’s getting, I’ve never seen him with…” Brad said slowly, and he shook his head. “Never mind.”

 We continued talking, and I occasionally stuffed myself with some of the candy I packed in my pockets. Eventually, Mr. Frared got out of his seat again and clapped his hands.

  “OKAY, class!” he announced. “Math ends in about a few seconds! So, I just want to wish you a WONDERFUL day and to not do anything drastic, like raise the dead, or-”

  “RRRRIIIINNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!”

 Mr. Frared yelped, tripped, and landed face-first in his apples.

 We all flooded out of the classroom, snickering. “’Have a good day’,” Terrence muttered, doing a mock presentation of Mr. Frared. “Heh! As if! Liar!”

  “Not the prettiest, either!” Brad chuckled. We went around several corners and bunch of stairs, and I vaguely wondered if this school was bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside, because it felt like it. In fact, I asked Brad about this.

 He shrugged. “I don’t know, and I honestly wondered, too- but I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was. Draik, you know, has magic…”

 We arrived at Trexdis’ classroom. Inside was a typical teacher’s desk, but without the apples- probably because she, unlike Frared, didn’t try to fake her way into our friendship. Brad had mentioned to me that she was the most sympathetic teacher, and everyone liked her and actually did their work quietly, or at least tried to.

 At the back of the room, behind all the desks were a bunch of shelves with a bunch of books, some looking pretty new and modern, like ‘I FUNNY’ or others incredibly old looking like they were first-edition, such as ‘The Odyssey’.

 We got into our seats, and Trexdis nodded. “Well, hey there, guys!” she said. Unlike with Mr. Frared, we nodded back.

  “Today we’re going to be learning about using parenthesis,” she explained. She took out a marker and began writing a bunch of notes down on the whiteboard. We copied down all of it, and she began to explain what they were (In case you don’t know, basically just put in something, like a random fact or note relating to the situation between two curves, like I’m doing now, Dummy).

  “Okay, so I’m pretty sure you guys can understand stuff like this now, right?” Trexdis said once she was finished. We nodded- I guess Trexdis had that way with us, adding a hint of flattery to her words.

 “So, for the rest of class I want you to write an original, creative story,” Trexdis told us. Terrence raised his hand.

  “Can it be about ANYTHING, like me creating a zombie army?”

  “Why not?”

  “What about a real life event?” Buzz asked. Trexdis shrugged. “Go ahead.”

  “So it’s o-okay for me t-t-to have Metallicus get sealed away for ALL TIME?” I chattered.

  “Way to go!”

 We all chuckled at Trexdis’ joke. We all began taking out our notebooks and writing down terrible fates for people we hated, like Gene, Draik, Yelatem, and of course Metallicus.

 In case you were wondering what happened, I grew up into an all-powerful tyrant and enslaved Draik, Yelatem, Gene, and Metallicus. Gene had to wash my feet, Yelatem had to carry my stuff around, Draik had to use his wings as an umbrella for me, in case I need shade or protection from the rain, and Metallicus was my footstool.

 Oh, you wanted to know what happened in real life? My bad.

 Once I was finished, I turned my notebook in to Trexdis like everyone else and tested my desk to make sure it wouldn’t collapse.

 I wondered what I should do. I was finally calming down from my sugar rush, and I was finished with everything. I considered reading one of the books in the back, but then I had a better idea.

 I took out my encyclopedia. History was coming up pretty quickly, so I needed to start studying, and I had some other questions, too.

 Earlier this morning, Gene had mentioned that the Great Devourer, the very thing that made my dad turn evil, was made by some Council of Warlocks, the Ice Clan, and a part of the Overlord.

 I felt a part of myself burn- with rage, maybe? I didn’t know, but I flipped the encyclopedia open and wondered what to write. I had also heard Metallicus mention the Council of Warlocks, too, but also a Samukai… and both Metallicus and Gene mentioned Phantoms. And the Serpentine sounded really interesting- apparently they were like, the second species in Ninjago that were all locked away.

 I wondered how that was even possible- I mean, THAT many?! But first things first, I needed to find out more about the Council, Ice Clan, and the Overlord himself- both were long gone, as far as I knew, but I needed to know about what they did.

So I first searched up the Council of Warlocks.

 

THE COUNCIL OF WARLOCKS

 

 The Council of Warlocks consisted of seven wizards and witches, one for each Moonstone. Originating from the Monster Realm, a wizard named Magikus made an alliance with six other wizards and witches –Kisonus, Editirus, Megarus, Viracious, Narililus, and Hydranos- and the seven formed the Council of Warlocks (Warlock refers to a member of this Council, Dummy).

 The Warlocks were extremely powerful in magic, and after acquiring the Moonstones, took over the Monster Realm. However, they eventually dreamed of controlling death by turning the Monster Realm into the next Underworld- so they decided to study the concept. This involved taking several specimens, going on many adventures, and seeking all sorts of sources of knowledge.

 At one point, the Council made a deal with a pharaoh named Amset-Ra to make six powerful artifacts for him. However, as soon as they finished they were approached by the serpentine’s Nezkon Empire. The serpentine knew that Amset-Ra was becoming a tyrant, and while they could invade his kingdom themselves they knew the Warlocks were better allies than enemies. Additionally, there were rebels who grew weary of Amset-Ra’s tyranny to help.

 They made a better deal with the Council, and they attacked Amset-Ra, defeating the Pharoah. The Warlocks hid away the six artifacts, and they are rumored to still be at the site of his defeat.

 However, the Warlocks brought upon their own untimely downfall when they agreed to help the Ice Clan in the Great Spinjitzu War. Somehow acquiring a fragment of the Overlord’s power, they infected a snake with it, and utilized additional curses to turn it into the Great Devourer. However, anything made by the Overlord was too powerful for any mortal to control, as the Warlocks and Ice Clan learned to their horror. The Devourer rampaged, and while it did end the war, the Ice Clan didn’t win- it was a stalemate.

 The Great Devourer also ravaged Ninjago greatly. Eventually, Kin Garmadon was forced to create the Sacred Flute and used it to imprison the Great Devourer in the Nezkon Empire’s capital, the Lost City of Ourobouros.

 However, the Devourer bit Kin’s son as a child, dooming him to turn evil for its venom had power fueled by the Overlord himself. Kin, vowing to avenge his son and end the Warlocks’ mischief and trouble, journeyed to the Monster Realm with all four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu and destroyed the Council in their last battle, giving away the moonstones.

 The Council of Warlocks did indeed show their strength, each complimenting their magic with the powers of their Moonstones- but they also sought after a foolish goal they could never hope to achieve and used their magic unwisely. In the end, this foolish use was what brought the wrath of the First Spinjitzu Master himself, but their legacy, the Great Devourer, infected Lee Garmadon, whom would play a key role in Ninjago.

 


	20. Snake People History

 I shook my head in disbelief. No… no way…

 THESE guys were responsible for dad?! They were the reason my dad turned evil… and the reason why my uncle had to defeat him.

 I clenched my fist. I was glad my grand-dad took them down long ago- but a part of me wished he didn’t, so I could grow up and defeat them myself.

 I sighed, a long, deep one- it was over. They had gotten what was coming to them. But the Ice Clan…

 They were the ones who hired those morons in the first place. But then again, I guessed there wasn’t much I needed to know- All I did and needed to know was that they were one of many ninja clans that knew Spinjitzu and hired the Warlocks to make this Devourer, and paid the price.

 I sat there for a moment, wondering who else I was planning to search up. Then I remembered- Metallicus had mentioned being partners with some guy named Samukai in the past, but he thought he perished. And Samukai was allied with the Dark Lord –whom I suspected of actually being David Cross- and they were the ones who destroyed the Tower of Tears and wanted me for something.

 I also tried to search him up earlier, yesterday, but then that thick-skulled moron Kirchonn the Invincible came and I forgot all about the creep.

 Before I could write down his name, Buzz tapped me on the shoulder.

 Irritated, I faced him. “What?”

  “Can you read my story?” he asked nervously. “I’m not sure if it’s good or not…”

  “Dude, it’s a grade for having parenthesis,” I pointed out. Buzz shrugged. “Still…”

  “Fine!” I snapped. I took the notebook and skimmed through the pages. To my surprise, it was pretty decent- it was going on about how Buzz went fishing once with Seamus, Felix, Lupus, and Terrence, and what happened. Apparently they caught a giant fish, but let it go when it started eating the boat.

 I handed it back to Buzz. “Nice,” I admitted, sincere. He grinned. “Thanks!” He got out of his seat and handed it to Trexdis, who was busy reading _The Hobbit._

 I clapped my hands together, ready to write down Samukai’s name. I took out my pencil, and began to write.

 But fate, being a total jerk, made the bell ring. I stopped for a moment, surprised- all I managed to write down was ‘Sam’, and the book, having a sense of humor, showed me an article called ‘3-Bladed Sam’.

 I silently cursed and slammed the book shut, dropping it in my bag.

  “Have a good day!” Trexdis yelled out to us as we flooded out of the classroom. “And don’t eat the macaroni- no seriously, don’t!”

 We all chuckled darkly- it was funny, but also true.

 As we made our way to lunch, I shrugged- I guess this wasn’t too bad. I could just pick up my lunch and read about Samukai before eating. I had all the time in the world, and I can be a fast eater if I want to.

 We got in line, chattering crazily. I glanced at the Teacher’s table, and everyone was there- including Trexdis.

 Huh. Weird. I never thought about it, but I never saw her get out of the classroom with us, yet she somehow always beat us there to the cafeteria, lunch already at her table. I figured the same went for the other classes.

 I grabbed my tray and began piling food, avoiding the macaroni, which, while cheesy, smelled kind of funny- I don’t know why, it just did.

 Spirius-3 stalked me, slowly moving along with me on the other side of the line, suggesting all sorts of foods –emphasis on the macaroni, too- and gave me pretty unsettling stares.

  “Want the CREAMED SPINACH, Mr. Garmadon?” he said quietly, with pure rage. I could’ve laughed- it’s not every day you hear someone as vengeful as him scream about creamed spinach.

  “Um… no.” I replied. Spirius-3 snorted. “2! Check the fryer! Our batch of chicken fingers is getting low!”

 I shook my head. I walked all the way back to the table where the others sat, glancing back at the window, in case any other bug-eyed mummy hikers had taken residence.

 Luckily, all I saw was a bunch of birds and a mountain goat.

  “Man, I hate Mondays!” Brad muttered, playing with his yo-yo. It accidentally hit Buzz in the eye.

  “So, do you guys have anything to do after school today?” I asked. Finn shrugged. “I’ll go terrorize some wimps.”

  “I’ve got business, so to speak,” Richie replied.

  “Studying,” Gene muttered.

  “And I need to prank Kyle Germa,” Brad added, taking out his notes from math class.

  “We’re going to play some soccer,” Terrence told me. “Felix, Lupus, Buzz, Seamus, Diablo, Francis, and I. Wanna join?”

 I nodded. “Why not?”

 I ate my lunch as quickly as possible. As soon as I was finished, I yanked my encyclopedia out of my backpack, tore it open, and took out my pencil.

  “Hey, Lloyd, who’re ya searchin’ up?” Terrence asked.

  “Just some guy named Samukai,” I replied. “Heard his name once. Don’t remember where.”

 I added that, just in case the others began asking too much. The times I DID hear his name were during confidential moments.

 I scribbled his name down, expecting something bad to happen like they do in stories or movies- like, maybe I misspell the name or get something completely different, or I break my pencil, or someone interrupts me, or I lose the encyclopedia, or its magic just starts malfunctioning.

 To my surprise, I just got the (notably short) article on Samukai;

 

SAMUKAI

 

 Samukai was a powerful Quadarm of unknown origins. A powerful being with a wide variety of powers, including necromancy and soul flame conjuring, he became infamous for numerous attempts to conquer various Ninjagoan territories with his armies, placing him at odds with many, including the Garmadon family. Samukai led his troops to numerous victories, even seizing territory the Nezkon Empire.

 Although Samukai was a powerful opponent and skilled strategist, his plans came to an inevitable end at the Battle of Tengum, where multiple spells conjured by several Magician mercenaries destroyed him.

 

 Whoa…

 This Samukai sounded pretty strong- like some monster version of Genghis Khan or something. He sounded pretty impressive, too, because I’ve heard a lot about Serpentine being pretty powerful or something.

 But then something came to me- Metallicus said he had met Samukai once, but then thought he had perished.

 That couldn’t be right. Metallicus would’ve had to be thousands of years old to know Samukai, and he sounded pretty young- and even then, he’d have to be a Garmadon to live that long, and if he WAS related to me…

 I decided not to think about that.

 Okay. So Metallicus had an ordinary lifespan. But then what about Samukai…

 Then I remembered- in my dream, he was some sort of skeleton, and I had a feeling that was what a Quadarm skeleton might’ve looked like. Maybe he DID survive the Battle of Tengum, but as some undead skeleton… maybe because of someone else, I don’t know. Then later on he met Metallicus centuries later, and having been acquainted with him, spied on my history teacher and encountered David Cross, and the two teamed up, Cross becoming the Dark Lord!

 Of course, then I’d have to take into consideration who managed to revive Samukai like that… oh well.

 Gene cleared his throat as soon as he was done with lunch. “Okay, Garmadon,” he declared self-righteously. “History shall commence right after science, so I feel I must take advantage of this free, excess time to continue educating you! Don’t you agree?”

  “Well…” I almost said no, but then I was kind of hungry for more knowledge, and not for food… even though it was lunchtime.

 Gene nodded, knowing he had won. “First, we shall start on the Serpentine- the second natural species of Ninjago, alongside us humans, the Serpentine consisted of five different breeds, or tribes, as they would later become- the Hypnobrai, Fangpyre, Anacondrai, Constrictai, and Venomari. Each tribe had a special venom and ability that made them very powerful. Hypnobrai, despite being cold-blooded, could survive well in extremely cold conditions and could control others through eye contact or venom. Fangpyre had mutagenic venom that could infect anything with their DNA, similar to our friend Finn, here!”

  “Who said I was your friend?” Finn grumbled.

 Gene ignored him. “The Fangpyre can also use this venom, albeit in small doses, to heal certain wounds. Should they infect themselves too much, however…”

 He decided not to elaborate, but I already started thinking too much. My imagination could backfire on me that way.

  “All Anacondrai can turn invisible and swallow others whole. Their venom causes one to slowly lose nutrition. The Constrictai can spin at nearly impossible speeds, allowing them to tunnel through the earth like drills! They had metal bones, making them much sturdier than other serpentine, and their venom makes it harder to breathe!”

  “And finally, naturally the most feared tribe, is the Venomari! They are naturally resistant to acid, and most poisons- although they can be affected by the venoms of their other tribes. Every Venomari has at least four eyes, and they can spray venom from their mouths that causes nightmarish hallucinations so terrible that the bravest men and women have screamed under its influence!”

  “Wish I could slip some in Metallicus’ food,” I muttered. Brad chuckled darkly. “You’re only one of many, my friend,” he replied. Gene looked miffed that I accepted Brad calling me that, but not him- and I grinned.

  “Made by Kin Garmadon, their task was to protect Ninjago from threats the humans could not. Virtually every one of them was soldier-like, and they loved to fight in Slither Pits, an important part of their society. Originally, the Serpentine were just one tribe, an empire, consisting of all of them and little organization. They were called, simply, the Slither Pits. Later on, however, their leaders decided to split their empire into five factions based on your breed, thus creating the five tribes. To celebrate this change, they changed their name to the Arokan Faction- named after the Serpentine word for Fang.”

  “Also, to accommodate this change of organization, Kin gifted them with the five Serpentine staffs- each leader of a tribe would wield them, and when they did they would grow a tail instead of legs to symbolize power. The Staffs could also create infinite supplies of anti-venom.”

  “Why would they want anti-venom?” I asked. “I mean, your own weakness is handed to your leaders.”

 Gene shrugged. “In case others bit each other, and to protect said generals from their own tribe’s venom, in case of a revolt or accident.”

 I nodded, stuffing my face with chocolate.

  “Later on, when the Spinjitzu Plague, so named because it sprang during the infamous Great Spinjitzu War, broke out, the serpentine discovered they were immune to it. As a result, their blood was used to create an antidote, and due to their superior population, with the human population dwindling rapidly, they began to take a greater presence. When they had to move from their capital, the Lost City of Ourbouros, they eventually began to take roots in human settlements, eventually forming an empire dubbed the Nezkon Empire, after the Serpentine word for War.”

  “However, the Serpentine began to act almost tyrannically in their attempts to keep Ninjago safe and also prevent yet another disaster such as the GSW. At the same time, the tribes began to find dissention among each other, each tribe having their own ideals and culture. They even began to live separately, using their new capital, Ctai Fortress, mainly for meetings. So when the humans rebelled, the Nezkon Empire began to argue about how to deal with the threat, and what they should do once they win. So the Nezkon Empire split.”

  “The new organizations –Hypnobrai Council, Fangpyre Nation, Anacondrai Empire, Constrictai Kingdom, and the Venomari Society- fought with each other and the humans. Eventually, the humans won the war with the Sacred Flutes and sealed the tribes away in five enormous tombs, which have remained hidden to this day.”

 I nodded, mildly impressed. “That’s cool.” I admitted. Gene scowled. “Cool? It’s FASCINATING! The Serpentine lived alongside the humans- true, they had their problems, but everyone did back then! The Serpentine were like a sister race to us humans! They decided who would rule through the Slither Pit, which involved defeating others in elaborate arenas!”

 That was when Gene’s words really hit me. It had just occurred to me, but he was right, which I hated to admit- the Serpentine had their own impact, they were a huge, complex society with as much problems as us humans- in fact, they were as close to human we could get!

 I remembered being told ‘Fairy Tales’ of the Serpentine, except the story was a lot more simplified in Robert Censes’ version- basically a bunch of giant, talking snakes that split into five tribes thanks to the humans tricking them and getting sealed away thanks to the flutes. At that time, it just seemed like a story to promote ‘Working together’, and if you ask me, Gene’s version was a lot better.

  “Okay…” I slowly admitted. “I guess you’re right.” Gene smiled smugly, glad to have me finally agree with him on one thing. Still, I had one more question…

  “Hey, Gene, you’re no history teacher, but were the Serpentine, well… evil?” I asked.

 Gene shook his head, indignant. “EGADS, no! The Serpentine were just as evil as you and I, if not a tad more war-like; but that was respectable!”

 I shook my head. So the Serpentine weren’t evil… and yet the humans had locked them up?! A spark of anger flared inside me- okay, so the Serpentine were acting a bit too snobbish, but they wanted to keep Ninjago safe! Especially after the Great Spinjitzu War, which the HUMANS started… and not everyone was bad! True, they attacked my family, but they had their reasons and it was the leaders who made the choice!

 I looked around the cafeteria, trying to imagine what it’d be like if the Serpentine had never been entombed. Could several of the students here today be replaced with snake-like kids, measuring their fangs or showing off their venom?

 Yet another thing to do on my evil Overlord To-Do List; Free the Serpentine and help them get revenge, along with beating the spinjitzu out of my uncle and Metallicus. Oh, and helping Juriyn, the nurse, find her memory- she mentioned having no memory about her origins.

  “I wonder what they were like,” Richie wondered aloud, his eyes having a dreamy look in them. “With their awesome fangs and claws!”

  “Aliens!” Seamus added.

 We all dumped our lunches, or what was left of them, in the trash, even as the bell rang. I shuddered, realizing what that meant.

  “Oh, great,” I muttered dejectedly. “Science with Ms. Arakchos. Yippee.”

 

 We arrived at the elevator at the top floor, leading to the science class- it was located in what seemed like an observatory. I wonder if Darkley had built the place before he passed away, or if he stole- ahem, _bought_ it.

 Brad pressed a button on the side, and the doors opened. We shuffled inside, and waited, listening to some hippy-guy sing ‘La-la-la-la-laaaa’ as gravity tugged at us.

  “We need some new tunes!” Terrence complained. We all agreed, bringing in our ideas.

  “Classical pieces, such as 1812 Overture or Ride of the Valkyries would be wonderful!” Felix suggested.

  “Rap!” Francis added.

  “Rock music,” Terrence declared. “After all, I came up with the idea FIRST!”

  “So if Felix suggested it first, we’d have to listen to 1812?” Brad snickered. Terrence scowled.

 The doors opened, and we shuffled out into the middle of the room. Several black, ice-cold tables had been set up, with four chairs at each one. Brad, Richie, and Francis, my roommates, sat with me at one of the tables together.

 Arakchos scuttled into view like some demonic omen, and I nearly squeaked- I kept on thinking about scenarios of her using me as an experiment, anesthetic not included. I had a feeling Draik was the only one who restrained her from using the students, thanks to his ‘punishments’.

 Speaking of punishments… I remembered how, last Friday, Scors mentioned that he and the others, if they did something out of line or whatnot, would get sent nightmares by Draik. I wasn’t sure how bad they were, but if they could hold back Arakchos and Yelatem, I decided not to push my luck with the principal.

 Arakchos bared her metal fangs at us. Now, her face seemed to be smiling eagerly at us, as if imagining us with artificial implants and other Star Fare stuff.

  “Welcome, class!” she declared. “I hope you’ve had a good day! But first- let me take attendance!”

 She began calling out our names, not bothering to use a clipboard- probably because she had a digital version in her computer mind or whatnot.

 I noticed that no one made any jokes or anything when she called our names- kind of like in Trexdis’ classroom, but not really. We weren’t behaving out of respect, but fear. And even if we weren’t afraid, I had a feeling Arakchos could still give us some pretty good reasons…

 Once she was done, she smiled. “Today, we shall watch a video about the ecosystems of the Plains of Fryda! I want you to write down at least twenty things you learned from the video, and in _complete sentences, no pen_!”

 We all nodded, half-scared as Arakchos scuttled away, her sadistic aura following her. We took a sheet of paper and our pencils, and got ready as Arakchos carried in a giant projector. Aiming it at a tarp, she turned it on and we watched the video.

 It reminded me of school, how my science teachers would do similar things. I would always get the sheet over with as quickly as possible, so I could then enjoy the video in peace. Anyway, Arakchos never specified on _what_ we had to write down, just things we learned…

 In just a few minutes into the video, I already finished my list. Here’s what it said;

 

  1. The announcer is female.
  2. This video takes place in Fryda.
  3. This video was made after the invention of cameras.
  4. It is sunny in Fryda.
  5. Fryda begins with an F.
  6. There are animals in Fryda.
  7. There are plants in Fryda.
  8. Crocodiles propel themselves through the water using their tails by swinging them back and forth.
  9. Time-travel has not been invented yet by the time of this video.
  10. Fryda spelled backwards is Adyrf.
  11. Lions have fur.
  12. Night takes place in Fryda, too.
  13. Humans live in Fryda.
  14. Fryda is the name of a bunch of plains in Terris.
  15. Fryda is a very hot place.
  16. I would not want to live in Fryda.
  17. Fryda is a southern place.
  18. Fryda has hyenas.
  19. Fryda has rivers.
  20. Fryda has dirt.



 

 Okay… so this might not be the most impressive observation of the Frydan Plains. So what? I kind of doubted Arakchos really cared about our grades THAT much, and Metallicus said that he and Draik just wanted us to be street-smart and logical. I didn’t need to know about Fricaa to be that.

 Anyway, Arakchos was probably the only teacher who’d accept these kind of answers… I should know, since I tried this kind of thing at school and got a lot of calls from the science teacher every time.

 Still, blindingly obvious facts about Fryda aside, I enjoyed the rest of the video in peace along with the others. Occasionally, if Arakchos would go off to do some terrible, sadistic experiment, a few of the braver (or stupider) kids would start goofing off a bit.

 My mind wondered a bit. I wondered if the Mind-Grapplers Arakchos made were here- and if there was more than just one in the first place. Personally, it would be awesome if I stole a few and used it on the teachers, or other students. Of course, then that would give Arakchos an excuse to experiment on me.

 Just as I began to think of what horrible things she might do to me, I felt cold, sharp blades dig into my shoulder.

  “EEEAAAAAGGGHH!!!!”

 I jumped back, startled and terrified, and fell out of my chair. Everyone stared and laughed- until they saw who was behind me.

 Arakchos helped me up, albeit reluctantly. I cleared my throat. “Sorry,” I apologized, my face getting hot even though I kept reassuring myself that it was all relative between us students.

  “So…” I whispered awkwardly. “Do you, um... need anything?”

 The look Arakchos gave me made me queasy. Heck, even looking at her made me want to bolt.

  “I just want to make sure my food for Krumm is working well,” Arakchos said with what seemed to be false concern. I wasn’t sure, but I guess machines couldn’t feel emotion. Or maybe they could, if they were once human and still had a brain. Whatever.

  “Um… yeah,” I said quickly, wanting to get her away from me as soon as possible. “He’s been growing pretty quickly, too- he’s already about as wide as a sausage, and a lot longer!”

 It had to be my imagination, I reassured myself later. But that didn’t soothe me at all, because I swore Arakchos’ smile widened even more.

  “Perfect,” she hissed, her tone becoming all the more sadistic.

  “Wait, is that _supposed_ to happen!?” I asked, but Arakchos was already scuttling off viciously.

  “Krumm’s grown how much again?” Brad asked me when she was out of hearing range.

  “He’s about the width of a sausage –maybe smaller- and way too long for me to measure,” I replied. At first, I had never thought much about his increasing length- but all of a sudden it was beginning to almost, I don’t know… maybe creep me out? I hoped it didn’t, because I was no wimp as far as I knew.

 Brad whistled. “Yeesh, Finn’s creations seem to be getting bigger now!” he noted. I nodded, uncertain- no, confident that wasn’t it. It probably had a lot to with those ‘enzymes’ Arakchos gave him, and I wondered if I should just throw them out the window when I had the chance…

 Of course, the can would probably land on the ground and spill, where more earthworms could eat it and grow huge. I know, I know- I could just flush the can down the drain or destroy it some other way, but I already imagined my actions causing an Insectpocalypse.

 Anyways, I wasn’t sure what else I could feed him. And who knows what the ‘enzymes’ might’ve done to Krumm- for all I knew they could be the ONLY thing he could eat!

 Wow. I realized I was probably the first person on the planet to worry about feeding my pet worm so I could avoid the apocalypse. Kind of sad, if you asked me.

 I shook it off, trying to comfort myself with the sounds of hyenas cackling viciously as they ganged up on other animals. As far as I was concerned, compared to Arakchos, it was like music to my ears, and good one at that.

 Still, I felt I should at least go to Krumm’s creator and technical ‘dad’, if you want to use that term- which I certainly didn’t. When class was over, I walked over to Finn as we crowded into the elevator.

 Finn cracked his knuckles, scowling. “What is it, Dweeb?!”

 I glanced back to see Arakchos hauling her projector away- and I swear, her eyes must’ve glanced at me, too. Well, just to be safe, I stood there, silent, like a total moron until the elevator doors opened again and we flooded out into the hallway.

  “Last Friday, after school, I went to Arakchos to find out how I should feed Krumm. Instead of just going on about some stupid schedule, she handed me a can of ‘enzymes’ and told me to feed those to him. I didn’t think much of it at the time- but recently, Krumm’s growing _too_ big, which is good, but strange. And Arakchos acted like this was SUPPOSED to happen, so…”

 Finn frowned, his cold-blue eyes piercing me like a knife. “Well, we’d have to figure out what she would want to accomplish with Krumm in the first place, and how that involves us. If we have no part in her little ‘plans’, no prob.”

 He shrugged, walking ahead of me. I contemplated what Finn said, and realized what he said was right. Arakchos, like any of the other teachers, couldn’t harm us- especially not me or Finn. Okay, true, I wasn’t so fond of the idea of Krumm being taken away by her… but I guessed I valued my life over an emotionless, non-sentient worm.

 Still, we’d have to see.

 Gene caught up to me. “Okay, Garmadon,” he declared smugly, knowing I, the recently-popular kid, was about to enter his turf. “I hope you remembered to study history- after all, it is the hardest subject in this school for new students to adapt to, if not the only one that takes effort!”

 I thought about that. “Yelatem makes us throw flaming dodgeballs at each other.”

 Gene scowled. “I said it COULD be the only one!” he snapped.

 Finally, we arrived at Metallicus’ classroom. Man, that place gave me creeps- maybe not as much as Arakchos’, maybe the same, or even more. Who knew?

 Above the door was a golden plaque, which said ‘Metallicus: Leader of the Metal Clan, he who knows everything, surviving prey of the Mantore’. Inside was a typical chalkboard, a teacher’s desk, and a bunch of shelves to the left crammed with texts more ancient than the ones in Trexdis’ room. Standing around limply like puppets were a bunch of skeletons of humans, Serpentine, Quadarms, and other creatures I hadn’t heard of before. The skeletons were made of plastic, rubber, and some looked like they were real, decaying bones…

 Ugh. I shook it off.

 At the back was an ordinary copy-machine and a tray for worksheets and stuff like that. But what really made the ‘Metallicus’ atmosphere truly complete was the bare wall on the right. It looked like a beast had slashed several tears and scars into it randomly, but look closer and you’d realize it said one thing-

 

_The Hollow Shell_

 

 I hoped it was graffiti.


	21. We spar with Flaming Boxing Gloves

 Looming over us like some gaunt gargoyle was none other than Metallicus- and how I’d like to wring the guy’s neck if he wasn’t so creepy-looking, the shadows practically clinging to him like a second skin or coat.

  “Ah, if it isn’t the children from Frared’s class,” he sneered, practically hissing like a Serpentine would. “I hope you remembered that you were assigned permanent seats last Friday, and also remembered where yours was.”

 We all groaned, and shifted uneasily. Luckily, I at least remembered that I sat in the front row, and soon the rest of us front-row kids –Me, Buzz, Seamus, Diablo, and a few others- managed to figure out where we sat.

 Metallicus nodded in chilling satisfaction. “Perfect. Work together, as a team- because teamwork is an advantage the ‘heroes’ have over you. But take that away, or have it yourself…”

 I rolled my eyes. He was taking this _too_ seriously, if you asked me, but Gene just nodded.

  “Okay, everyone who remembers where you sit, go into your seats!” Gene commanded, trying to show off to Metallicus. Personally, I couldn’t care less, but then I remembered how the geek made me look stupid last Friday.

 Whatever. It’s not like I wanted to be Metallicus’ favorite.

 Once we were all back in our actual seats, Metallicus took out a piece of chalk and began writing furiously onto the board. I remembered Draik mentioning we had a project today for History- yippee.

 Metallicus wrote the words, ‘GREAT SPINJITZU WAR GENERALS’ on top of the board, and began writing what looked like a rubric of sorts.

 He faced us. “Today, class, we shall begin work on our project,” he announced. “As you _some_ of you make know, and others not-” His head twitched towards me, Finn, Brad, and a few of my friends.

  “-The Great Spinjitzu War was the second most destructive war in all of Ninjago, dwarfed only by the horrific Nezkon War. The eight Spinjitzu Clans –Fire, Lightning, Air, Metal, Earth, Ice, Water, and Shadow- thanks to years of rivalry and prejudice, had stupidly decided to attack all of the others at once in one huge war, as if one clan could take down the rest. Luckily, others were just as foolish and so some were eliminated out of the competition, others not.”

  “With the powers of Spinjitzu on their side, the land was ravaged enormously. Occasionally, the foolish would attempt to create the mythical Tornado of Creation, made by fusing four different spinjitzu tornadoes, and thus cause even more unpleasant results. Their war caused economies to crash, and many governments and Feudal Lords bribed into the service of the Spinjitzu Clans were soon forced to participate. As most of you should know, the Great Devourer, made by the Overlord and the foolish Warlocks and Ice Clan, created the Great Devourer, which devoured countless ninja, thus ending the war.”

 Metallicus pointed at a list of eight names on the board. “For today’s project, you shall do a brief biography about a leader of each Spinjitzu Clan’s time during the war, and how it affected them and what happened afterwards. The choices are, and as follows- Kakikazi from the Fire Clan, Yenma from the Lightning Clan, Arina from the Air Clan, Likus from the Metal Clan, Tectan from the Earth Clan, Matan from the Ice Clan, Moryu from the Water Clan, and Acimis from the Shadow Clan.”

 Metallicus faced us again. “Each leader had their own personality and impact, quirks, skills, and battles they won. Their fates after the war were miscellaneous, but in the end the Great Spinjitzu War was the ultimate humiliation for all.”

  “The project format shall be that of a packet, preferably,” Metallicus went on. “If you seek a far more ambitious and revolutionary design, you may consult me. Consult the rubric to see the requirements for the project. It shall be due on Friday the 13th this month- so if you’re the superstitious type, be prepared!”

 Metallicus strode towards his desk, and I swore I heard him chuckle in sadistic amusement. Seeing the look on Seamus and Diablo’s faces didn’t help my mood, although to tell the truth I, like Metallicus, thought the whole Friday the 13thdeal was a bunch of baloney.

 We all began to move our desks together, discussing with our classmates on which one we would do.

  “I plan to do Kakikazi!” Diablo said excitedly. “Cause, you know, the fire motif, and I heard she was basically obsessed with flames!”

  “Moryu’s cooler!” Seamus corrected. “The guy was a TOTAL nutjob! And Water beats Fire!”

 The two began getting into an intense argument about who would win, as if the two were characters from a card game or whatnot, instead of real, living people who contributed to a war that caused countless destruction, and said war inspired one clan to create the Great Devourer…

 I shook my head. I was being way too stiff.

 I looked at the board. I guess I wanted to do something different from the others, so Kakikazi and Moryu were out, and based on what my friends said, they were nut-jobs in the first place. The rest of their names pretty much just passed over my head, but then I stopped at Matan.

 According to Metallicus, he was the leader of the Ice Clan, who hired the Warlocks and somehow got a bit of the Overlord, so they could create the Devourer… which bit my dad and turned him evil.

 I guess I was kind of fascinated in a weird, vengeful sense- what was this horrible guy like? Or was he really bad, or did he just want to end the war as soon as possible and made a deal with the devil on accident?

 I took out my encyclopedia and looked at it. Flipping it open, I took out a pencil and looked at the blank pages. Yet I hesitated.

 I don’t know why- despite my earlier, vengeful curiosity, I almost felt afraid- I honestly had no idea at all why. I guess it was like confronting that one man who helped ruin your life- or to be exact, one of the many people. I guessed I couldn’t solely blame Matan- the Council of Warlocks, the Overlord, and my stupid uncle were at fault too. Oh, yeah, and also my mom for leaving me at this dump.

 Wow. I had some pretty terrible, or at least stupid, relatives, from my power-hungry dad, my foolish mom, and my treacherous uncle. I hoped the First Spinjitzu Master and my grandma Jasmine were better.

 I decided to look up the others- Likus, Arina, Tectan, Acimis, and Yenma. Hopefully they were better choices.

 I wrote down all of their names. Apparently, Arina was one of the few merciful ones who knew the war was a stupid idea, and had a controversial affair with Likus. Tectan was some buff moron who was all about honor. Likus was supposedly really smart and manipulative, but could act a bit arrogant at times. Yenma was a super-fast braggart, and Acimis was, weirdly enough for the leader of the _Shadow_ Clan, a cheery, fun-loving ninja who actually respected others.

 I considered my options. Tectan sounded like some stupid brute (and his obsession with honor sounded completely useless). Arina and Acimis seemed, well… _okay_  to me, since their kind of behavior wasn’t so useful during a huge war. Then that left Yenma and Likus- both were pretty arrogant, but while Likus had an on/off switch, Yenma was constantly showing off.

 So I decided to choose Likus, leader of the Metal Clan. Not exactly who I’d have expected myself to choose, but oh well.

 A part of me wondered if I would ever know about Matan- if he was that one loose end I would refuse to tie. I shook it off- Matan was gone. So were the Warlocks. My dad. Kin. Jasmine. They were gone, and I was the legacy of their stupidity, foolishness, and bad mistakes. I didn’t need to know about Matan, either.

  “So, who’d ya pick, Lloyd?” Terrence asked me.

  “Likus,” I replied half-mindedly. I was writing down as many notes as I could on Likus’ life- once I was done, I would just get rid of the ones I thought were pointless, string together the survivors, and form a summary about Likus’ involvement in the GSW.

  “Weird.” Terrence sniffed. “I’d have expected ya to do Matan, being the leader of the Ice Clan, the guys…”

 He faltered, realizing he had hit a sensitive spot.

  “Go on.” I muttered. If I wanted to be powerful, I’d have to stop being a wimp about people going on about the Great Devourer.

 Terrence hesitated- I actually expected him to go on, but I guess he had his respect for me. I once heard someone say this from a favorite comic of mine, what was it- Crionicle? Either way, someone said this- “Throw a group of your enemies into the vilest prison imaginable and they will forge a stronger bond, for they are all sharing the same misery.”

 I looked at the ‘enemies’ as us students. This school was the prison, and I guess the misery part was the teachers, or maybe the lessons, or possibly everything.

 Then again, the same guy also said, immediately afterwards, “But offer even the glimpse of a means of escape, and they will tear each other to shreds scrambling for the exit.”

 If you asked me, if all of us students began attacking each other in order to escape, I’d say Buzz, Gene, maybe Lupus would be shredded first. But that’s just my opinion.

 Anyways, Terrence went on. “Since the Ice Clan IS responsible for the Great Devourer, and your dad being all evil…”

 I shrugged. “Whatever. Matan sounds like a stereotypical evil guy.” I lied. “Likus sounds cooler, I guess.”

 Terrence nodded. “Me, too.”

 I soon found out that Finn chose Matan, Brad got Yenma, Felix chose Tectan, etc. I continued reading about Likus- supposedly, his parents included his mom, the previous leader of the Metal Clan, and his dad, some assassin. Likus was a huge loner in his childhood, and thought most people he met were way too dumb and should've valued intelligence more. Eventually, he grew up and became leader, and really changed the Clan’s philosophy (which was at the time about being strong and stubborn and a lot of stupid stuff) to cunning. Then the war started, he had a secret relationship with that Arina person, and was left in a coma by the Great Devourer for a week or two, before eventually disappearing.

 Yeesh. As I read, I noticed the article on Likus was awfully specific- I began to wonder just how Metallicus knew what he knew, until I remembered he was supposedly Likus’ descendant. It was kind of obvious where he got his info from there.

 Eventually, Metallicus stood up as I was about halfway with my notes. “Class has ended,” he announced. “I hope you have actually done progress today, if you’re even capable. I, for one, sincerely hope you pay attention to the mistakes of these ninja, or else history will repeat itself, thanks to ignorance. Class is dismissed- now go exercise your bodies with that twit Yelatem!”

 The school bell rang exactly after he finished, as if the creep timed his words. Being Metallicus we were talking about, I wouldn’t have been too surprised.

 I put up my stuff and jammed it all into my backpack. “I _hate_ taking notes,” Lupus groaned as we all headed towards the gym.

  “Every time I have to, I feel like I either have to basically paraphrase the ENTIRE thing,” he went on. “Or jam in what feels like three or four useless facts and get a zero!”

  “I feel your pain, man,” Brad agreed, and we all murmured our sympathy.

  “I hope Scors or Trexdis comes by and saves us from Yelatem like last Friday,” Diablo muttered. “I, for one, do NOT want to get slowly roasted! ....and if I had to, I’d like to be well-done, not medium rare.”

  “Is this the first time he’s given us fire?” I asked. Finn shook his head. “Second. Last time involved shooting burning coals at cardboard Santas.”

 I stared at him, then shrugged.

 We arrived at the double-doors leading inside to the gym. Above, in golden letters, said ‘GYM (OR P.E.)’. We walked inside, and there was Yelatem, waiting for us.

  “ALL RIGHT SISSIES!!!!” he screamed, sounding like a wailing elephant waiting with a tootache. “GIVE ME A HUNDRED!!!!”

 We all ran to our spots and dropped down. I’ll admit it- Yelatem could be _pretty_ scary- maybe as scary as Metallicus, Arakchos, or Draik, maybe not. But when you imagined him doing the same stuff to you that he inflicted on Kirchonn, it wasn’t so much a request as it was an order.

 Our arms burned and we soon got extremely sweaty. My throat burned and I kept slipping on my sweat, which began to mix with the dirt and dust on the floor. Gross. Still, I tried to go through it anyway- Time to lose the special treatment because it was my birthday, or I was a Garmadon. Here, the students and I were equals.

 Yelatem stalked the place, his giant sneakers slamming into the ground, making sounds like cannons being fired, and I guess both caused the same kind of mass destruction.

  “WIMPS!!!” he howled. “BACK IN _MY_ DAY, WE COULDN’T SWEAT! _WE_ HAD TO HOLD IT IN, AND IF JUST ONE DROP CAME OUT, THE COACH WOULD MAKE US WALK BACK WITH BURNING COALS IN OUR FEET!!!!”

  “As if!” I muttered under my breath.

 Like a bloodhound that sniffed with its ear or whatever, his head snapped towards my direction. “WHAT WAS THAT GARMADON?!?!” he roared, stomping forward.

 I honestly had no idea what to do as Yelatem towered over me, probably ready to slam a suplex move on me. Should I admit what I said, or deny?

 I figured Yelatem would still punish me anyway if I denied anything, so I decided to tell the truth, but grease it up a bit for the coach.

  “I said it’s unlikely that happened,” I lied. “…Because your coach wouldn’t have made you walk back home with legos under your feet- you’d also have to carry a whale!”

_Okay. Stupid idea,_ I thought to myself.

 Still, Yelatem grunted. “NO, WE DIDN’T CARRY WHALES ‘LAZY’ GARMADON, SO TEN MORE PUSH-UPS FOR CHEEK!!!”

 Oh, well. It wasn’t going to work, anyway, but I still cursed my luck.

 By the time I was done –or felt like I was, same difference- most of us were already finished except for the weaker kids, like Buzz. Speaking of Buzz, Yelatem was giving him the death glare, encouraging him to go on.

  “HURRY UP, TUBBY!!!!” he screamed. “BACK IN MY DAY, THE FAT PEOPLE AT LEAST USED THEIR WEIGHT TO CRUSH THEIR OPPONENTS!!! YOU JUST USE IT TA EAT!!!”

  “Use your fat to eat?!” Brad whispered to me. “That doesn’t even remotely make any sense!”

  “Our ambitious coach has always paid little of his intense concentration to even his own brutish words,” Felix said with an air of dignity. “Though it lacks our comprehension, its volume and sheer demeanor delivers a clearer message!”

 Finally, the rest of the students finished, and Buzz literally dragged himself with his sweaty chin, panting so much he reminded me of a goldfish out of water. Pity.

  “So… tieeaauuggh….” Buzz’s throat made a sort of scratchy wheezing noise.

 Yelatem looked at all of us, pretty much just lumps of drained flesh oozing sweat on the floor. “NOT PERFECT, BUT ALMOST GOOD ENOUGH!” he grumbled. Or yelled. Honestly, I could never tell when he was trying to yell or talk in his indoor voice, if he even had one.

 Yelatem grabbed a giant, plastic bin that was already cracked in several places and threw out a bunch of boxing gloves that practically rained on us. “PUT ‘EM ON!!!”

 We shoved the gloves on, all right. Strangely enough, the inside felt kind of tough and hard, almost metal, as if something was inside.

 That probably foreshadowed what happened next, because Yelatem grabbed a switch and flicked it on.

 All our gloves burst into flames.

  “YEEEEEAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!”

 We all scrambled away, even though that did nothing at all, since our gloves were on. Some tried to yank them off, but to no use. Others held them away from themselves as far as possible.

 A few of us, Finn, Terrence, Francis, and others just grinned. “SWEET!” Terrence cheered. “Now if only Trexdis would let us read incantations for raising the dead…”

  “FIRE! FIRE!” Seamus screamed, waving his gloves. I held my hands as far as I could from myself, standing up and trying not to panic. The heat of the flames radiated, scorching my face like a sunburn, but otherwise I was perfectly fine. Unfortunately, I was practically roasting in my thick Darkley’s sweater.

  “How is this even LEGAL?!” Diablo demanded, who seemed more mad than scared, and I was impressed at him for standing up to Yelatem. On the other hand, another part of me thought he was a moron for standing up to Yelatem.

  “IT’S NOT!!!” Yelatem roared back. “BUT IN DARKLEY’S, _REAL_ VILLAINS DO **MANLY** STUFF!!!!”

  “That’s it, it’s clear our school is ruled by psychopaths,” Richie muttered, pretty fazed. I shrugged. “Clear? It always was, as far I’m concerned, and I’ve been here for only four days!”

  “THE INTERIOR OF THESE GLOVES WILL PROTECT YOUR HANDS FROM THE FLAMES!!!” Coach Yelatem announced. “TODAY YOU WILL BOX EACH OTHER TO THE FINISH WITH THESE!!!”

 Coach Yelatem stomped off, and for one final touch turned on a radio that began playing YMCA.

  “YOUNG MEN!” the radio sang as we all grumbled nervously, trying to choose our partners. I chose Buzz, since I figured he was a wimp and wouldn’t do much towards me. Everyone else wasn’t even boxing at all- just waving their flaming hands awkwardly. Some of us, again, the ones who were impressed, started messing around a bit- until someone had to beat out a slight candle flame on the hem of their sweater.

 Then they stopped messing around.

  “When Draik said beware, I should’ve listened,” I grumbled. “I wonder if another teacher will come by and raise the roof- speaking of which, if Arakchos came by and saw this, do you think she’d complain?”

  “Mmm.” Buzz was just standing there, trembling, holding his hands as far as he could from himself. He was sweating even more than the rest of us, maybe from fear or  the previous exertion. The guy was pretty pale, too.

 Oh well.

 I shrugged off his expression, which I found pretty hilarious. True, that WAS kind of mean, but this school was all about villainy, and being all nice and wimpy wasn’t going to help me at all.

 Surprisingly enough, the rest of gym was actually pretty uneventful. We mostly just stood there awkwardly, waving our arms around to give the impression we were boxing, and the radio continued to sing YMCA.

  “THERE’S NO NEED TO FEEL DOWN!” the radio sang, even as one of the kids nearly fell down, practically fainting from the sheer heat.

 Finally, the bell rang, and I have to admit that this might’ve been the only time I felt glad to have heard it.

 Somehow, we managed to actually take off our gloves without burning ourselves and dropped them on the floor, where the flames burned out instantly.

  “YA BETTER BE TRAININ’ YOURSELVES LIKE BRUCE LEE!!!” Coach Yelatem roared at us as we flooded out of the gym. “OR ELSE I’M GOIN’ BRUCE LEE ON YA!!!”

  “Do you think he’d really do that?” I asked the others.

  “Of course!” they all replied with complete sincerity.

 


	22. I get used to the Prison- Er, School Routine

 After the school day was pretty uneventful. For the most part, I was just glad I survived a second one- it reminded me of a quote from a favorite of mine, _Holes_ \- “First hole’s the hardest,” and so on. I figured it was the same with each school day.

 I mostly sat in my room, taking notes on the project about Likus. I hated deadlines and projects, and wanted the thing out of my way as soon as possible. On the other hand, when I finished things early and had plenty of time, I always had this nagging feeling that my project should’ve been worked on more or something, or that it was unfinished, or I missed something.

 Likus, to tell the truth, sounded pretty cool- he was smart, charismatic, a loner, and brooding. True, he could be sort of snobbish and had a slight God Complex, but I kind of admired him anyway.

 Terrence barged in suddenly, holding a blue soccer ball with red flames on it- I later learned he borrowed it from Diablo.

  “Could you knock first?” I grumbled, yawning. Terrence rolled his eyes. “Whatever! Wanna play soccer, Lloyd?”

  “Who’s playing?”

  “Remember, at lunch? Me, Felix, Lupus, Buzz, Seamus, Francis, and Diablo!”

 I shrugged, putting away my notes. Honestly, I was tired of doing homework and I figured a good old game of soccer would liven me up.

 I went out into the dorm where the others were waiting. “Let’s do this!” Diablo cried, and we agreed, heading downstairs. After getting crammed into the elevator, we went outside and around the school to a huge expanse of grass behind. Next to the expanse was a playground of sorts- instead of those plastic rock-climbing things, they had actual giant rocks, which I figured wasn’t safe for kids at all.

 We also had a rope bridge, which looked like the ones that might break at any moment in Indiana Jones or whatnot. There appeared to be the remnants of an actual fort from long ago were there, and instead of monkey bars we had stalactites hanging off of a giant slab of rock fused between the abandoned fort and a giant climbing rock. Other things, like actual quicksand pits and patches of barbed wire were around as well. In fact, the only normal thing was a few swings.

  “That’s just messed up,” I muttered. “Cool, but messed up.”

 We set up a pile of soccer goals at both ends of the field, and Felix and Terrence began choosing teams.

 To tell the truth, I hated it when they picked teams, because I was one of the very last people chosen. Still, I was actually one of the taller and more fit kids in this group, so I was chosen for Terrence’s team after Felix chose Lupus. Felix then chose Francis, Terrence took Diablo, and Felix got Seamus.

 Huh. Poor Buzz. All alone, the slower kid, not as fit and now last to be chosen by Terrence. Oh well.

 I looked at my team- Terrence, Diablo, me, and Buzz. As far as I knew, my only concern was Buzz, so I figured he should’ve been used as the goalie.

 Terrence agreed with me when the four of us had one of those huddles you see on TV. “Okay, Buzz, you guard the goal,” he ordered. “Lloyd, you’re a bit bigger than us, so you should guard a bit. Diablo and I’ll be on the offensive. Got it?”

 I nodded. To tell the truth, I hoped I didn’t disappoint the team and make them lose, because that would really ruin their opinion of me, the new kid.  
I looked at the other team on the opposite side of the field. Francis was goalie, Seamus was one of the defenders, and Felix and Lupus were on the offensive. Since Diablo was short and Terrence was average, I had a feeling our offense had a pretty bad chance.

 Terrence and Felix set the ball down. “Ready, guys?” they both asked us. We nodded.

  “GO!”

 Terrence kicked first, but Francis did one of those head-butts and knocked the ball away. It bounced towards Lupus, who began kicking it towards the goal. I positioned myself where our defense was weaker, and Diablo went after Lupus. Felix cut off Francis, and Lupus, having a height advantage, got past him and kicked at Buzz.

 Buzz barely got in the way, and the ball bounced off of him. I took the ball and kicked it towards Terrence. Felix intercepted, and after a brief scuffle Terrence got it back and ran to the other side of the field, Diablo trying to slow down Felix and Lupus.

 Seamus intercepted Terrence, and the two grappled with the ball a bit, but Terrence kicked as soon as he saw an opening and kicked the ball towards the goal. However, Francis had seen it earlier and was already there, kicking the ball all the way back to the other side.

 Lupus and Felix ignored Diablo and went after it. I got the ball, kicking it between the two, but Seamus intercepted it and kicked it back to Felix, who was all the way to the left while I was on the right. Felix slammed his foot into the ball and Buzz lunged, but missed, the ball completely avoiding him and rebounding from the net.

 I was slightly miffed- but then I easily shook it all off and grinned. “Nice one!”

 We got back into position, and this time Felix kicked the ball first. And rolled past Diablo, but I knocked it back to him. Diablo went to the right, Lupus and Felix chasing him while Terrence went to the abandoned left. Just as Seamus went after him, Diablo kicked the ball through the three of them and back to Terrence. Terrence kicked, but Francis kicked it so hard it went hurtling to the other side.

 I knew there was no way Buzz of all people could stop it, so I did what came to mind- I got in the way. I expected myself to do one of those cool head-butts, but instead the ball ricocheted off of my face.

  “Bleugh,” I muttered, shaking it. It felt a bit numb and fuzzy, but I shook it off.

  “You okay, Lloyd?” Terrence asked me. I nodded, kicking the ball back to Diablo. Diablo somehow managed to force his way through Seamus and kicked the ball one more time, finally getting past Francis.

  “GOAL!” Diablo cheered enthusiastically.

 We kept playing. I had to admit, I wasn’t so bad- a bit rusty, but oh well. I was pretty surprised to see Seamus, who was pretty shrimpy, do a pretty good job of defense, although Buzz was just as bad as I expected him to be. Still, we only lost 5-6, so I guess he wasn’t _too_ bad…

 After the game, we all hi-fived each other and hung out at the playground, chilling at the walls of the abandoned fort.

  “That was fun,” Diablo muttered, panting as we watched the sunset. “You know, sometimes I wonder where they found this fort? Looks pretty old!”

  “Judging by the ancient architecture,” Felix said slowly, rubbing his chin. “I’d say… ancient Daehran!”

  “I wonder how they could move a huge fort like this from Northern Ninjago all the way to Terris?” I wondered aloud.

  “Ninjago’s shaped like a curled-up dragon, so the tail and mouth almost touch,” Felix muttered. “The teachers probably used the Ihanean Strait.”

  “I remembering being at the ocean,” Francis grunted. “Orphanage. We had fun, played in the sand, though we couldn’t go too far out.”

  “Star Teeth, right?” I asked. Francis nodded.

  “Richie complained that the Star Teeth kept eating ships, making seafood harder to get and more expensive!” Terrence chuckled, apparently finding it funny that Richie would pay attention to such a pointless thing.

  “Well, we should get back into the school,” Lupus yawned. “It’s getting dark.”

 We all lingered just a bit anyway, watching the sunset go down. Then the sky began to darken, and we all walked back into the school.

 As we went through the hallway, I noticed the Nurse’s clinic. I remembered that I needed to talk to Juriyn.

  “You know what, I think I might’ve gotten a bit of a bruise on the inside of my cheek,” I lied. “I’m not even sure if that’s possible, so I’m gonna go check out with the nurse, okay?”

 The others nodded. “See ya!”

 I waited until they all got into the elevator, before opening the door and going inside.

 The clinic was so white it almost hurt. The floor was a polished, shiny white, the walls were painted stark-white, and so were the cabinets and equipment. The lighting didn’t help either.

 The clinic was about the size of one you’d see in a school. Several cabinets, drawers, and at least one sink was built into the walls, and there was a special bathroom. Laced across the walls was a bunch of metal track, and crawling along it was one of my best friends, Juriyn the amnesiac nurse.

 Juriyn was long and serpentine, like a giant leg-less centipede made of several metal segments. One end of her was crawling along the track, and the other side had a complex tornado of thin, metal arms with all sorts of tools at the end, and at the middle controlling it all was a square, cube-like head with several eyes glowing a ghastly green. Like all the Spirius drones, she had Arakchos’ tech design all over her body.

 I instantly recognized her as Juriyn. According to Juriyn, she had no memory of who she once was. Supposedly, she also had all these stranger clients from time to time, who were all battered and scared. After healing them, she never saw them again, and I wondered if they were older kids that ran away.

 According to Juriyn, before the teachers learned of her actual sentience, she overheard some discussions and was the one who pieced together the clues and told me everything. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if I heard the whole story, or just a piece of it…

  “Lloyd!” Juriyn said, pleased. She slithered towards me. “Anything wrong?”

 I shook my head. “No, just wanted to meet you,” I told her. Juriyn nodded excitedly- I imagined it must’ve been incredibly lonely for her. In fact, I wondered just how old she was- for all I knew, she could be my age, or even older than DRAIK!

  “Remember the stuff you told me?” I asked her, sitting on a couch. “Well, can you make sure not to tell anyone else?”

 Juriyn tilted her head to the left, puzzled. “Why not?”

 I shook my head. “Long story,” I replied cryptically. “Can you just promise?”

 Juriyn nodded excitedly, as if it was the first promise she ever made to a friend- in fact, I could’ve been her first friend, which made me pretty sad and almost angry, but at who I didn’t know- everyone?

  “Right,” I said. “So, after I left, I had another dream about the school’s insignia. It kept on saying date, so as far as I know it means a date, as in a deadline- not a fruit or romantic one.”

 Juriyn tilted her head, perplexed, as if trying to remember something. “Go on,” she said.

  “Right. Then, during lunch, I catch some mummy guy with one of his eyes exposed -which looks like a crystal- outside. I tell Yelatem, but he doesn’t care squat. Scors did, though…”

  “And then at the bathroom I met a being made of water called a Tear that warned me about a Dark Lord and Samukai, like in my dream, having destroyed the Tower of Tears before he gets sucked into the toilet. Then during Halloween, I meet a kid named Nikon with this awesome electric costume!”

  “I don’t recall someone named Nikon…” Juriyn said slowly, like a little girl.

  “…except it wasn’t a costume. Nikon transforms into a giant energy demon when we’re alone, but the teachers save me. As for Nikon, I don’t know. And it turns out he’s from the Tower, too!”

 I told her the rest, and about the Tower of Tears. I told her about how I tricked the others into admiring me, and explained why I wanted her to keep it all a secret.

 Juriyn nodded, looking at me in awe. “Wow… but do you think these people from the Tower will get you?”

 I shrugged. “There’s a barrier, and looking at Coach Yelatem, I doubt anything would want to risk going near him, so I’m confident I’m safe. Still, I should probably prepare anyway, in case I meet the ‘Mistress’ Nikon mentioned.”

 Man… it had been some time since I thought about the Mistress, if at all. As far as I knew, she was the one who helped Nikon get through the barrier, and based on what Metallicus said she was a pretty powerful witch. In fact, I wondered if she was the one who mutated Frared?

 Maybe, maybe not. I needed a date, which reminded me of my dream about the school’s insignia.

 Still, I asked her about it anyway. Juriyn shrugged, or did the closest thing to a shrug. “I think it’s interesting, Lloyd,” she told me sincerely. “But I honestly don’t know.”

  “It’s okay, Juriyn,” I sighed, swinging my legs back on forth. “So… how was your day?” I said awkwardly.

 Juriyn nodded excitedly. “Well… not much happened, actually! But during Halloween, Kyle Germa came back with half of his hair gone!” she giggled at the thought.

 I smiled. “I remember,” I muttered. Then I remembered about my research.

  “Hey, Juriyn, earlier today I learned more about the people responsible for the Great Devourer. Well, most- the Overlord, Council of Warlocks, and Matan.”

 I honestly had no idea what she would say- Juriyn seemed like the person who you could just tell all your secrets to and completely trust.

 Juriyn gulped. “Oh… are you…”

  “I’m fine,” I told her. At least, I felt fine. But then a sudden spark of anger flared in me, but I quickly doused it. “The Overlord was already long and gone, actually, when the Devourer was made- they used a piece of his power. My granddad got revenge and destroyed the Warlocks, and Matan’s gone.”

  “Monster Realm…” Juriyn said slowly, as if trying to remember something.

  “So, is it really boring here?” I asked. “Do you have ways to entertain yourself?”

 Juriyn nodded. “I do,” she told me. “I watch cartoons- I, uh… have a TV!”

  “Cool,” I said. I thought it was strange that Juriyn had a TV who-knows-where and watched Spongebob on it, but I guess that made her life a little better.

  “So you’re not bored?” I asked.

 Juriyn sighed. “No… just lonely.”

 Wow. Now I felt really bad for not visiting Juriyn earlier. I made a note to myself to visit Juriyn everyday after school, and on weekends spend as much time as possible, if I could.

 I yawned. “You should go to bed,” Juriyn suggested. “It’s almost curfew, and you’re tired.

  “Sure,” I told her. “Thanks.”

 Juriyn shifted a bit, then spoke up one more time.

  “Um… Lloyd… could you give me a hug?”

 I was really caught back by this. But then I remembered how incredibly lonely and painful it must’ve been, so I complied. I went over to Juriyn, and navigating my way through her arms, hugged her. She hugged me back, then slithered off.

  “Thanks, Lloyd,” she said quietly. “It gets very lonely… no one really tucks me into bed at night, except, well…”

 I looked at Juriyn. I wondered what could’ve been behind that mask- a little kid, a teenager, an adult, an elderly person? Either way, no matter what, Juriyn had the mind of a little girl from being so lonely and abandoned…

 Looks like I found another thing for my evil To-Do list- Once I grow up and take over this place, I’ll free Juriyn and take care of her.

 I went back upstairs and into my room. Francis was reading some comics, Richie was already asleep, and Brad kept laughing about his prank on Kyle Germa.

  “You should’ve seen it!” he told me.

  “Hey, Lloyd, how was it at the nurse’s?” Francis asked me. I remembered my excuse, then shrugged.

  “Juriyn just told me it was a cold sore,” I said. Brad frowned. “Juriyn?”

  “The nurse.”

  “Oh. I’ve never been to the clinic at all, really. I’m not even sure Finn has, and he’s been here a while, along with a few others…”

 I felt a spark of anger flare inside me- considering how everyone else went on about how terrible it was in here, they should at least feel sympathy and go visit Juriyn!

 I doused that spark of anger. Considering the psychopaths that ran this school, I guessed they didn’t want to risk another Arakchos, which was perfectly reasonable. Still… Juriyn…

 After changing and going to bed, I turned off the lights.

  “Good night, guys,” I told them, closing my eyes.

  “Good night!”

  “Good night, Krumm,” I said, since I just felt like it.

  “ _Ssss…_ ”

 I sat up. Did I just hear…?

 I flipped the lights on and opened Krumm’s box. Krumm just dug around in the dirt.

 I swore I heard a hissing noise… I had a feeling it was Krumm, but it also could’ve been something else, like the AC or whatever.

 Still, I decided I needed to keep a second eye on Krumm. If Arakchos MEANT for him to grow like that…

 I climbed back into bed, exhausted. Each school day felt like a week or two, and I deserved my rest.

 

 The rest of the school week, was surprisingly enough… uneventful.

 There. I said it.

 Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the whole surge of escapees from the Tower was over. And anyways, most of it happened around Halloween, a holiday where you’d lower your guard. But now everything was normal, ordinary protocol, so I figured any other escapees and the Mistress wouldn’t think of now as the right time to intervene or do anything drastic.

 My days went like this-

 First, I would wake up to that stupid school bell. I would wonder why Darkley’s didn’t just use an electronic bell, like actual schools did, but I guessed it was meant to enhance the whole ‘Prison’ aspect, because that was what this place basically was.

 After dragging myself to bed and doing my morning hygiene half-awake, me and the others would head down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Again, Draik would make yet another pointless speech, we’d recite the school pledge, grab our stuff, and head to math.

 Math was pretty boring, and just like all the other schools I went to, except the teacher looked different and I had friends. Reading was the same, although Trexdis would actually try to liven things up and made it clear that she was on the same train as us.

 Then we’d go to lunch. Spirius-3 would threaten me, and 2 would reassure me that he’d never carry out his threats. $, on the other hand, told me to go out and buy some Kevlar, for my own sake. Then I’d talk with the others and we’d discuss all sorts of stuff, from politics to who would win- Star Tooth VS a Piranha.

 Gene would also educate me more on the ancient past of Ninjago. I found the Serpentine to be especially fascinating, and I once told the others about my dream to free them… and promptly use them to take over Ninjago and enslave my fellow humans, with the occasional exceptions.

 Finn snorted the first time I told him. “Good luck with that, Dweeb!” he sneered. “If Metallicus can’t find the Tombs –and trust me, he admitted doing that once- then you can’t either!”

  “Well, I don’t consider myself to be like our history teacher, thank you very much!” I snapped back, but it was more of a friendly gesture than aggressive. I also learned the school customs, the unwritten rules- most of the time, any insults of snappy words were mostly on friendly terms. If you took offense, then you were a sensitive wimp.

 Of course, never go too far… especially with parents. Brad told me that Finn almost clawed a kid with his talons when he insulted his parents, or something like that.

 After lunch, we’d go to science, and there we did stuff kids of our age shouldn’t do… we dissected animals, some huge, some small, learned gross stuff, and Arakchos would act way too creepy.

 And after that, the dreaded part of the day, was Metallicus. Luckily, we mostly just worked on our projects. Gene kept bragging about how he got permission from the creep to do a more ‘ambitious’ design for his project. I just told him to shut up, and everyone would laugh.

 And gym class… ugh. We’d always start with the accursed push-ups, and after we lost all our breath and the will to live, Yelatem would make us go through grueling exercises, from obstacle courses (usually involving fire), martial arts (which was actually pretty cool, but Yelatem had no patience), and soap operas.

 Most of the time, it was Scors and his assistant Spirius-6 who came by and saw what we were doing. Sometimes he’d tell Yelatem to tone things down a bit, sometimes not. I guess it was based on today’s mood, because he had different reactions to the same exercise we did.

 One Tuesday, we were about to shot arrows at apples… on top of each other’s heads. When Scors came in, his reaction was pretty funny;

  “THEY’LL HURT EACH OTHER!!!!”

  “THAT’S MANLY!!!” Yelatem snapped back.

  “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO FIND KIDS LIKE THESE THAT NO ONE CARES ABOUT?! I LOSE SLEEP OVER THAT!”

  “SLEEP IS FOR LOSERS! REAL MEN STAY AWAKE ALL DAY!”

  “HOW?!”

  “ _WITH COFFEE!!!!!_ ”

 Another day, Scors came in when Yelatem made us do the same thing. His reaction-

  “Huh.”

 Then he left.

 As far as I knew, Scors apparently didn’t care for us that much, either- based on what he said, it was the fact that he had to go out and find orphans no one cared about that he hated. In fact, he probably wouldn’t have cared what happened to us at all if he wasn’t the one that had to compensate.

 After school for the next two weeks, I’d go work on my project more, check out Krumm, play soccer with the others, talk with Juriyn, etc. I noticed that Krumm was no longer growing so huge all of a sudden- I guess that meant he had reached his peak in growth.

 I told Finn about it. He told me that meant we had been worrying for nothing, then.

  “I guess Arakchos was just happy her own invention managed to make a worm grow so much,” he snapped as he dunked a kid’s head in the toilet (I don’t remember who).

  “What about that time I heard a hissing?”

  “Well, I made him from a pencil, Krumm is bound to do weird stuff, Dweeb!” Finn snarled.

 Still, I realized he had a point, but I was still nervous about Krumm and checked him thoroughly, in case he grew scales or something. Afterwards, I guess I would just talk out loud when I was alone, rant on about my life and worldviews, yada-yada, and how I wished people would just shut up and get along, kind of like how bugs in hives do.

 Okay… this is getting embarrassing. I’ll just stop talking about that for now.

 Still, one thing DID happen…

 On Friday, while the others and I were playing soccer, a strange robot flew up to us, and from its design I realized it must’ve been a Spirius Drone.

 It was about the size of Finn, with a head shaped like and arrow-head, with a ghastly-green screen covering the face. Two diamond-shaped eyes were in the middle. It had a small, rigid body, with long, metal wings with two hooked talons on each, like a Pterodactyl. Two little rockets were on its back. It had long, spindly legs, with hooked talons on each, and a tail with what looked like a harpoon, for some reason.

 It was carrying in its claws a large package stuffed with newspapers and magazines. I wondered why a Spirius Drone would be carrying stuff like this, and why it was here.

  “Hey, Spirius-9!” Brad said. This time, he, Gene, Finn, and Richie were at the Play Ground. Seamus, Diablo, Lupus, and Felix were off somewhere pretending to be alien explorers checking out an abandoned castle, the fort.

  “Hey, Richie, I have quite the news I nabbed today!” Spirius-9 said. She had a feminine, robotic voice that sounded french.

  “Mind if I have one- namely, an issue of Ninjagoan Times?” Richie asked her. 9 used her claws and groped the package, before taking out a roll of faded paper and tossing it to Richie.

  “Can’t wait to watch _The Shadow Knight_ , ever since you gave it to us in that trade!” 9 said excitedly.

 I looked at Richie. “Trade?”

 Richie shrugged. “Long story,” he said off-handedly. “Anyways, 9’s job is to go out into Ninjago and gathers news to give to the teachers and such, since they’re pretty busy most of the time!”

  “Well, let’s check out what you’ve got so far!” Brad said, sitting with me and Richie on the Cat Walk. Richie removed the rubber band that bound it and unfolded the paper. We all read the front line… and stared.

  “No way.”

 What did it say?

 

**SIX-ARMED MONSTER ATTACKS PARROT BAY**

 


	23. An Old Man beats up Kirchonn the Invincible

 That’s what it said, and I instantly thought of an old friend of mine and Draik…

 We looked at the photo right next to it, and sure enough we saw Kirchonn the Invincible, terrorizing a bunch of people.

  “GUYS!” I yelled to the others. “THIS IS PRETTY BIG NEWS WE’VE GOT!”

 Everyone ran right next to us, trying to squeeze their way in to see the article. We all began chattering excitedly, remembering how Kirchonn had come to school, and after beating up our gym teacher, had some sort of discussion with Draik to find a certain Mangel.

  “Well, what’s it say?!” Terrence snapped.

  “Let me read,” Felix declared. He cleared his throat.

  “On Tuesday, November 3rd, a strange, six-armed beast attacked Parrot Bay, a popular trading area near the borders between Terris and Coemix and a common place for family vacations. Locals mention that he declared himself as ‘Kirchonn the Invincible’ and constantly threw axes, new ones somehow reappearing in his hand.”

  “Must be that ‘upgrade’ he talked about getting,” Terrence remembered. We all nodded in agreement.

  “As one anonymous witness told, ‘He was taller than any man, with short brown fur all over his body, and for some reason a moustache. He wore armor and hunting furs, and he just came out of the water while I was about to take my boat out for fishing. He grabbed my prize pole I caught a Great White with and snapped it in half with two fingers, I tell you! I screamed and ran, and the monster hopped off of my boat and began wrecking stuff!’”

  “Ripped!” Francis said, and we all agreed.

  “By the time the infamous N.O.P. (Ninjagoan Order Patrol) arrived, however, Kirchonn had been tied to the metal mast of a large ship with destonium chains used for its anchors, ranting on about a ‘Wu Garmadon’. A N.O.P. Official refused to reveal much, although he did tell us that they would begin investigations of this supposed Wu Garmadon in order to find out more, and that Kirchonn would be questioned.”

  “ _No way_ …” Finn muttered. “Your uncle BEAT him?!”

 I clenched my teeth. “KIRCHONN, YOU SUCK!”

  “However, soon afterwards, the N.O.P. caravan containing Kirchonn, whom was confirmed to be bound in five-inch thick destonium armor, gagged, and injected with knock-out serum used in the Tranquil War, was later found wrecked and torn apart. Instead of the guards, there were golden statues of terrified N.O.P. agents. The words ‘Golden Man’ were found carved into the wreckage, and Kirchonn was nowhere to be found, with his bonds now golden and in pieces. Further investigations shall be gone into this strange incident, as confirmed by the N.O.P.”

  “Golden Man?!” Brad muttered.

  “They were gold, huh?” Felix muttered. “Interesting… as if… no… _maybe_ …”

 I knew what he was thinking about.

  “A gold touch.”

  “Crazy idea, yes… but in Ninjago, crazy is but a less-popular synonym for genius.” Felix agreed.

  “Man, gives me chills thinking about it all,” Buzz muttered, pale.

  “What’s the N.O.P., anyway?” Lupus asked.

  “The N.O.P. is an organization founded by the three governments of Ninjago,” Gene explained. “Meant to replace the League of Samurai, all of its members are covered entirely in brificus, leather, cloth, and are basically the closest thing to modern ninja that we have. All members are ruthless and extremely skilled, and they serve Ninjago as a whole.”

  “I heard that new initiates –most of which start at our age- used to sometimes be dropped in the middle of deserts and were forced to crawl their way back to civilization!” Terrence added.

  “And that they’re training includes every martial art, Pre-AP classes, inventing, acting, flying, obstacle courses, and Iron Chef cooking!” Seamus finished, panting at the list.

  “Man,” I shook my head. “If this Golden Man can beat a caravan filled with N.O.P. members, gold touch or not, then he’s serious business.”

 I wondered if he had something to do with the Mistress Nikon mentioned. I wouldn’t be too surprised- and even less if the Mistress was in league with the Dark Lord and Samukai.

 We began skimming through the rest of the newspaper, one of the articles mentioning a man who claimed that a Four-armed man ran off with his wife, with police pointing out to him that it was probably some ordinary guy that looked funny at night-time.

 By the time we were done perusing through it, it was almost night-time. “Well, we’d better head off into the school now,” Brad yawned. We nodded, but I knew that all of us were thinking about three things- Kirchonn, my uncle, and the Golden Man.

 

 Ah, the weekend.

 We had all been waiting impatiently for it for WAY too long, so it was a relief to find out that we could finally kick back and relax.

 That’s basically what I did on Saturday- just enjoying the weekend, occasionally working on my project, and so on. Since Gene was still working on his, wasting his perfect weekend, I let him use my Magic Encyclopedia.

 Afterwards, I went into Seamus’ room, and I really DID wear a special mask and gloves when I went inside.

 Seamus lived with Buzz and Terrence. Seamus’ bunk, the top one on the left, had a bunch of shelves nailed to the walls filled with comics, action figures, and other nerdy stuff completely preserved in plastic wrap or cases. Seamus had a Star Fare blanket and pillow, and a toy gun that shot lasers.

 Terrence had the bunk on the right, and on it was a few posters of stuff you’d except a juvenile delinquent to have, as well as a wicked skateboard and the skull of an alligator that was pretty wicked.

 Buzz’s, which was below Terrence’s bed, was pretty generic, with a few toys, books, comics, and underneath was a bag filled with his emergency rations- namely, a bunch of candy and a few snacks.

  “Behold…” Seamus told me as he grabbed one of his cases. Putting it on the bed below, he opened it up and took out a perfectly-preserved, mint-condition issue of the latest Star Fare comic.

  “Enjoy…” Seamus declared grandly, backing away. I silently bathed in the issue’s grandeur, before reading the issue.

 To tell the truth, it was kind of boring.

 Still, Seamus really knew how to liven up an experience.

 Later on, I met up with Spirius-1, and wanting him to meet Juriyn, brought him over to the clinic. Apparently, she and 1 were good friends after all, and I told them about Kirchonn and the Golden Man.

  “Interesting…” Spirius-1 muttered. “A gold touch… I wouldn’t be too surprised… yes, and it’s clear this Golden Man freed Kirchonn, and may be allied with this Mangel and the Mistress.”

  “A gold touch?” Juriyn said to herself. “Maybe you could search it up? I don’t think there are many people who have a gold touch, right?”

 I nodded. “Good idea, except Gene’s hogging my encyclopedia for his stupid project, and as much as I want to snatch it back, I should just let him use it first.”

  “So it appears that the Dark Lord and Samukai are not only targeting you, but your uncle as well- possibly all the Garmadons,” Spirius-1 theorized.

  “Maybe they want to kidnap you?” Juriyn suggested. “Nikon wanted you alive, so maybe they want Wu as well?”

  “I can imagine all sorts of uses for a Garmadon,” I agreed. “Which is better incentive for me to avoid Arakchos, too!”

 We all laughed at my joke. Then I remembered about Krumm’s growth, and told Spirius-1 and Juriyn. They, too, had similar ideas like Finn, but 1 advised me to just throw out Krumm.

  “I don’t know…” I admitted. “If Krumm was dangerous, there’s no way Arakchos would risk growing a giant monster right next to me.”

 Spirius-1 pondered this a moment, then glanced at Juriyn. “Perhaps… we could study Krumm?”

  “What?”

  “Juriyn has the necessary equipment, and I know Arakchos well, being built by her,” 1 explained. “Maybe we could learn more about what Arakchos has done to your pet Krumm.”

 Juriyn nodded. “Don’t worry, Lloyd- we won’t dissect him!”

 I nodded, not sure what to think. So I said the best answer that came to mind-

  “I’ll think about it.”

 Pretty much anyone’s ticket out of a question. To tell the truth, I WAS pretty fond of Krumm, talking to him for no reason other than just to. On the other hand, if he DID transform or whatnot, I wasn’t sure what I’d think.

 By the time I got back to the dorm, my fellow Search Gang members were there.

  “Hello, Mr. Garmadon!” Felix said. “Come, leisurely relax with us as a group upon our plush sofas and cushions, to discuss like war generals our next move to discovering the cryptic secrets of our superiors!”

  “In other words, let’s talk about what we’ll do tomorrow.” Lupus said bluntly. Nodding, we all sat down onto the sofas and chairs, and began discussing our next move.

  “As you know, last Sunday we made a daring plan for you, Lloyd, to head to the oblivious town below to scavenge for the books containing our friend Yelatem’s violent past. Rather conveniently, this day is tomorrow, our next meeting, so while you shall search for Yelatem’s history, the rest of us shall coax secrets out of both Frared and Yelatem using flattering questions.”

 I frowned. “Flattering questions?”

  “We say stuff like ‘Hey, Mr. Frared, did you ever go to college, because you’re so smart, and if so, what college? Were your family members impressed? Did they go to college, too, and which ones?’ You know, those kind of questions.” Lupus explained.

 I grinned. “Not bad!” I praised. “So where’s the money we stole from Gene?”

  “I’ve got it in my room,” Lupus yawned. “I put it in a plastic bag, so you don’t have to touch it.”

  “Right, and I just get permission from the teachers to go out of school tomorrow?” I asked. Felix nodded.

  “Well, I should go right now, then,” I decided. “See ya.”

 They nodded as I headed out of the dorm.

 It was easy getting permission from Frared and Trexdis, Frared being gullible and naïve, Trexdis since she was a friend. Scors didn’t care either way, so I got permission from him. The same went for Arakchos, but it was still hard going into her room and trying not to imagine her dissecting me.

 Then there was Yelatem and Metallicus.

 Yelatem wasn’t so sure, since he thought I wasn’t ‘manly’ enough to brave the outside world. Luckily, I pointed out that I was probably more ‘manly’ than the average kid outside of this place, since I had him of all people as my coach. This got me a pass from him, easy-peasy.

 Metallicus, however, was even less enthusiastic, but in the end relinquished since he saw no reason that I shouldn’t be allowed to go. However, even as I left, he told me one last thing, sneering in amusement.

  “Watch out for the escapees- they’re hungry for vengeance.”

 I barely kept myself from grabbing a nearby book and chucking it at his head.

 


	24. I try to suplex someone over a book

 The next day, I was ready.

 I gave Felix, Terrence, Seamus, Lupus, and Buzz my Magic Encyclopedia in case they needed it. Lupus handed me Gene’s stolen savings, stowed in a plastic bag, and I changed into a separate pair of clothes I got from the teachers that wasn’t a school uniform- a green T-shirt with stripes of a darker shade, and short jeans.

 Once I was ready, I went down to the front of the school, were Spirius-1 waited, carrying a laser gun he used on my first day when The Stuff attacked, and a clipboard with a bunch of approved names. As I expected, not very many kids were there- most of us here had really ticked off the teachers, and only a few did it because they disliked them solely, not because it was in their natural nature… not yet, anyway.

  “Ah, Hello, Mr. Garmadon,” Spirius-1 muttered. “Did you bring anything?”

  “Just a bag of money Lupus let me borrow,” I told him. Spirius-1 nodded. “Get in, and try not to attack someone while my back is turned.”

 I got into the school bus, which was colored an incredibly dark shade of purple, like our sweaters, with the insignia on the side. The seats were a polished, smooth leather, and the cold caused mist to form on the windows, and feeling pretty good today, I drew doodles on the mist.

 Once 1 was done, he got into the bus driver’s seat. “All aboard!” the doors closed, and the bus headed towards town.

 While everyone else chattered, I just looked out of the window, contemplating what’d happen next. I hoped I’d get the books as quickly as possible, and I also thought of what Metallicus said- clearly, he meant to intimidate me, but I had a feeling it was a legitimate warning. I sincerely hoped nothing would happen, which was clearly a futile hope.

 Finally, after a couple of minutes –maybe half an hour, I wasn’t so sure- we arrived at the town.

 It was pretty small, a suburban place, but it had a sort of homely feel to it, like everyone was a friend. Adults, kids, teenagers, and families prowled the area, minding their own business.

  “Well, you know the rules, kids,” Spirius-1, although by the time he said it half of the kids had gotten off of the bus. “Don’t say too much about Darkley’s, and don’t run off, because trust me- my friend 10 is a rather unpleasant Spirius Drone, unlike me and the others!”

 I nodded. “Sure thing, 1.” I got off of the bus, and took in a deep breath of fresh air.

 Freedom… so this is what it tasted like.

 Okay, not exactly freedom- but the illusion of it, a free sample, so to speak. I felt good.

 In fact, who was to say I had to go and buy the book and just leave? I had all the time in the world- might as well enjoy my day.

 I explored the place, checking out the stores. I goggled at the cool, awesome toys, and I ate quite a few free samples at the restaurants. I learned the layout of the place, and strolled by the neighborhood. I hung out at the park, feeling like I was actually an ordinary kid that wasn’t destined to terrorize Ninjago, who wasn’t being hunted by monstrous escapees from a legendary tower, his name being cursed.

 It felt good.

 Finally, however, I decided I might as well buy the book before it was too late, and then spend the rest of the day enjoying myself. Looking for the biggest bookstore, I went inside.

 As soon as I entered the building, I felt a sudden, strange, almost unnatural chill shiver through my body, like I was being submerged in arctic waters, that made my soul feel like it was weighted down.

 I shivered. “Must be air-conditioning,” I muttered.

 I journeyed further into the store, which was called _Barn’s and Nobel’s_. I went up to one of the counters and asked an employee about the book I was looking for. The employee, a man in his forties or fifties with black hair that was beginning to gray set in a ponytail, with a bushy beard, glasses, and a casual shirt and jeans, searched it up on the computer.

  “Hmm… let’s see…”

 I waited awkwardly for a few moments before he smiled. “Aha! It’s right over there, third shelf down. It’s got an orange cover, about an inch thick, by George Fastey.”

 I nodded. “Thanks!”

 I ran over to the shelf, which was mostly deserted. I searched the shelf, turning my head sideways like a moron until I found a book.

  “Aha!” I declared. I reached for the book…

 And another hand closed in on it at the exact same time.

 I almost let out a cry of surprise, but I kept my cool and glanced at whoever was at my right.

 It was a girl, about my age, but pretty tall, about my height. She wore a ragged, dirty purple T-shirt with a skull on it, and damaged jeans with the edges torn at so much they were pretty much shorts. She had jagged, wild black hair that was incredibly messy and spiked, with a tiny little braid at the back, and silver streak racing through like a river of water. Her eyes were a cold shade of violet, cruel and amused.

 The girl scowled. “Back off, loser!” she sneered.

 I instantly disliked her. She reminded me of those high-and-mighty, bratty girls back at the schools I used to go to, the kind that looked at me as if they wanted to spit.

  “Yeah, well I actually found it first, and I legitimately need this!” I spat back. The girl snorted, crossing her arms. “What for?”

  “My friends and I are… searching up certain people,” I said cryptically. “We’ve also got a reputation to build, too!”

  “One of the popular kids?” the girl hissed, and I could almost feel a bit of pain and sadness in her voice- rejection, the kind I had all the time until I met the others at Darkley’s.

  “There’s no such thing where I’m from,” I retorted. “We all share the same pain, so we’re all equals.”

 The girl raised an eye. “Don’t tell me… you’re one of those kids from Darkley’s?”

 The way she said it offended me. And as much as I hated the place, I felt that sudden, patriotic instinct to protect my school.

  “Yeah, and I’m about ten times tougher because of it!” I snarled. “So back off and give me the book! It’s not like you need it as much!”

 The girl scoffed, and I noticed her incisors were a bit longer and sharper than the rest of her teeth, as if she was a vampire. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

  “To tell the truth, I just want to find out more. I don’t have much to do…”

 Then she looked at me, and her eyes hardened. “I can kick your butt right now! I can actually fight- ask the kid on Mower Rd. that broke a nose thanks to me!”

 I snorted. “As if! At my school, the gym teacher makes us shoot ARROWS at each other, and I’ve learned some martial arts myself!”

  “I know quite a few, too!” the girl snapped back. “And I’ve actually used them, unlike you!”

 I scoffed. “All right, all right, I haven’t attacked others…” Then I grinned viciously- both to intimidate her, and because it was cool. “Not yet.”

 Okay, I admit… I was being pretty mean, but she was insulting me left and right, and I was having enough of people walking over me.

 So I pushed her aside. “Move, will ya?”

 The girl went red in the face. “Darkley scum!” she snarled, and soon enough she began yelling a lot of nasty stuff that I probably shouldn’t say… and I’m not proud to say this, but I said some nasty stuff myself, too, most of which I learned from Terrence.

 Then the girl slammed her fist into my jaw.

 Soon enough, we were hitting each other, sending books falling. I tried using some of Yelatem’s techniques he taught us, but I honestly couldn’t remember much.

 Then came an opening, and for some reason, I thought I could pull off a suplex throw, grabbed the girl around the waist, and tried to toss her behind my back. Instead, her flailing and added weight caused me to trip and stumble, and we fell in a heap.

 Someone yanked on our collars and dragged us towards the entrance. I dimly recognized him as the employee from earlier.

  “That’s enough, children!” he snapped. “Your parents would be ashamed to see you!”

  “Wait!” I stammered. I took out the bag full of Gene’s money. “Just let me buy a book first!”

 The employee shook his head. “Come on!” I begged, and he shoved us out of the store.

  “Why won’t you take my money?!” I yelled at him as we hit the ground. The girl got up and snarled. “Jerk,” she hissed. Then she remembered me, and shoved me pretty hard as I got up.

  “ _Move, will ya?!_ ” she said in a mocking tone, and it took me a second to realize she was mimicking me.

  “I might as well leave now, thanks to you!” I snarled. The girl snorted.

  “Please- you’re just another one of those ‘popular’ kids!” she snarled. I scowled.

  “Don’t compare me to those guys!” I hissed. “I’m nothing like those snobby, pompous twits!”

 Wow. I said twit. Metallicus’ vocabulary must’ve been rubbing off on me.

 The girl’s expression softened just a little, and I realized she must’ve sensed pain in my voice like I did in hers.

  “Whatever,” she muttered. “I can just go back after a while and make an apology –which I wouldn’t mean- and get the book myself!”

  “Well, I need it more than you, and you can probably go here as much as you want!” I retorted. “I only get to go here once a MONTH, for pete’s sake!”

 The girl snorted. “Another Darkley boy, huh?”

 I went red in the face. “Look, this probably won’t mean anything to you –not yet, anyway- but I’m a GARMADON, grandson of the freaking FIRST SPINJITZU MASTER!”

 Honestly, it was a brag I knew she wouldn’t get, but it felt good to flaunt it off for once. Instead, however, the girl went pale for a moment, then scoffed.

  “GRANDSON?!” she sneered. “Please! Kin and Lee are DEAD!”

 Then I stopped. “You…” I said slowly. “You know about the Garmadons?”

 The girl nodded. “I know more than those supposed historians, that’s for sure! They can’t even confirm the Serpentine’s existence!”

  “Honestly, how do you forget stuff like that so easily, I wonder!” I agreed. Then I paused for a moment, shocked at the idea of that girl knowing about the Garmadons, the Serpentine, and probably more. I looked at her warily, trying to figure her out.

  “How…” I said slowly. “How do you know about the Ancient Past?”

 The girl contemplated what I said for a moment, then sighed. “I’ve got… interesting parents. But that doesn’t matter. How can you be a Garmadon?!”

 I shrugged. “My parents fell in love, duh!”

 The girl shook her head. “But Lee died way too long ago- you should’ve been born earlier!”

   “Well, I don’t know!” I snapped impatiently. “I’m a Garmadon, and we have stuff in our blood that lets us age eternally! For all I know, we’re practically another species!”

 The girl glanced at me warily. “How’d a Garmadon like you become a Darkley’s kid?”

 I scoffed. “It’s like you think we’re all saints or something,” I sneered. “Well, my dad was a pretty evil guy, at least until my stupid uncle defeated him. Later on, my mom Misako had to drop me off at the school to ‘protect me’, but I think she’s still a lousy parent!”

 She looked at me curiously. “How long have you been there, then?”

 I looked at the ground, and kicked a pebble because I felt like it. “Ten days. You see, after I got dropped off at the school, I was sent to some stupid orphanage so the people after my mom couldn’t find me. A few years later, BAM! I get sent to this place.”

 The girl suddenly looked down and kicked a pebble, probably because she felt like it.

  “Is it that bad?”

 I scoffed. “Oh, you don’t know half of it!” I sneered. “Come on, let’s sit down and I’ll explain.”

 We walked over to a wooden bench across the street and sat down. “We have a questionable staff- our first principal used to be some sorcerer named Darkley, but he’s gone. Now we have a wizard named Draik. Our math teacher is a Jack-O-Lantern head guy called Frared, our reading teacher is an invisible girl with bandages named Trexdis, the coach is a skinny, gray guy named Yelatem, we have a cyborg named Arakchos, and our history teacher is a man named Metallicus.”

 The girl seemed piqued at the mention of Metallicus, which I had to admit was a weird, although cool name.

  “Arakchos built a bunch of spirius drones to help out. Some are nice, some are jerks, but all are pretty wacky, if you ask me. Believe it or not, they legitimately teach you to be evil- apparently, Draik wants to build an army fresh from start.”

  “Class is normal, although in science we dissect stuff, in history we learn about the Ancient Past, and in gym we do all sorts of crazy stuff, like martial arts, swordsmanship, and one time we boxed each other with flaming gloves! No, seriously, I ACTUALLY mean it!”

  “You have any friends?” the girl asked me. I shrugged. “Quite a few. I’ve got Brad, Finn, Gene, Diablo, Francis, Richie, Terrence, Felix, Lupus, Buzz, and Seamus. I’ve also got Juriyn, the nurse, Spirius-1, the janitor, and Trexdis, our reading teacher.”

  “What’s your name?” the girl asked me.

  “Lloyd. Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon,” I explained.

  “Huh.” The girl seemed unimpressed. “I expected something more…”

  “Fancy? Majestic? Who cares?” I muttered, “Hey, what’s your name, anyway?”

 The girl hesitated, then nodded. “Caila Forrester.”

 I shrugged. “Not a bad name.”

 We sat there for a moment in awkward silence- just some tomboy vampire who knew of the Ancient Past and the grandson of the Continent’s creator.

 Then I cleared my throat. “So… do you mind if I get the book? Because me and a few friends of mine have this little club we call the Search Gang, and we’re trying to learn more about the school and the staff, because trust me, they’re… interesting, to put it as mildly as humanly possible.”

 Caila sighed. “Oh, fine,” she muttered. “Like you said, you need it more.”

  “Yeah…” I said, embarrassed. “Sorry about telling you to, you know…”

 Caila chuckled sheepishly. “Sorry about insulting your… ahem…”

 We just shook our heads and got up, going back inside, where we gave the employee a drippy, wet apology that we didn’t mean at all before I finally bought the stupid book.

 Once we were done, we ran back to the bench, shooed away some pigeons, and sat down.

 I rubbed my hands together. “Finally!” I said excitedly. “I can now find out about my gym teacher… come on, Nathaniel Yelatem, what secrets do you hide…?”

 I flipped over to the chapter about Yelatem, and to tell the truth… I was pretty disappointed.

 I mostly just learned that his dad was some weirdo named Thomas Yelatem and his mom was a girl named Marka Stemmat. His dad was a pro-boxer, and his mom was an archaeologist. His mom got severely injured in an accident, and she had to give birth to Nathaniel right there before she passed. Thomas basically pushed Nathan to the limits at school, making him train at everything, martial arts, etc. Nathan won several awards as a child, teenager, and young adult, and the book even had some pictures of him holding these awards, although he didn’t look too happy as he smiled.

 Eventually, Yelatem became a professional boxer renowned for his aggressive style, and his dad eventually died of old age. In Yelatem’s next match afterwards, he flew into an aggressive fury and badly hurt our old friend Cadmus, before being disqualified and disgraced.

 So then Yelatem goes broke and becomes little more than a street thug, becoming all the more pitiable and obscure until he finally just disappears from the face of Ninjago.

 While it WAS a lot of information, most of it was completely useless and irrelevant. I basically wasted Gene’s money on this, and I almost wished I had used it for those books on Quantum Physics.

 Caila noticed my face. “What’s wrong?”

 I shook my head. “I just wasted my time for the most irrelevant information in the world,” I groaned.

 Okay. So it wasn’t THAT irrelevant. I mean, I did possibly find out the reason why Yelatem went berserk- his poor daddy passed, and he was orphaned. And him becoming a street thug explains a lot about how he met Draik and the others.

 Still, I was satisfied to say that the Search Gang finally discovered the secrets of Nathaniel Yelatem. And already, Felix and the others were coaxing the secrets out of Frared with flattering questions, and with my math teacher being so naïve, I wouldn’t be surprised if we had two teachers off our list by the end of the day.

 But what about the others? We knew Scors was a lawyer, and Arakchos was a scientist, but Trexdis and Metallicus were much more obscure, and I sincerely doubted we could coax any info out of them. Trexdis was one of my friends, but I had a feeling she’d be more than sensitive about what happened to her.

 I sighed, closing the book. Well, I guess I had everything I needed in here. In fact, now that I think about it, I could’ve just asked Caila if I could read that chapter and let her buy the book herself.

 This made me feel pretty silly. Still, I felt like I should man up and apologize, at least in my own way.

  “Here…” I handed Caila the book. “I just needed to read that chapter… sorry… you can have it now. I don’t need it.”

 Caila blinked at me, surprised. “You should keep it. You bought it with your own money, after all.”

 I chuckled sheepishly, rubbing my neck. “Yeah… it wasn’t exactly MY money, long story…”

 I pushed the book into her lap. “Go ahead and keep it. I actually don’t care about boxers at all, just one in particular. And I usually throw away stuff I don’t need, so you’re doing me a favor.”

 Caila smiled warmly. “Thanks.” She put the book next to her. “So… do you have any interests, or anything?”

 Soon enough, we began talking, and eventually we got up and began walking through town, Caila pointing out different places and explaining them to me.

 Finally, I asked her. “So, where do you live?” I said casually. “I live at Darkley’s, but you know that already.”

 Caila hesitated. “…I shouldn’t. Dad says I shouldn’t tell strangers my address.”

 I nodded in approval. “Smart guy. In a world like this, it’s mandatory.”

 Caila looked at me funnily. “You know, you’re the first boy –or person, for that matter- who actually understands me, in a way…” she muttered.

 I chuckled darkly. “Funny how that works. As terrible as the school is, everyone I meet has the same sob story, which makes things a lot better. You could say it’s like we’re family.”

 Caila smiled at me. “Thanks, Lloyd,” she said. “And, um… your name isn’t so bad, I guess.”

 I raised an eye, and decided to tease her a bit. “Ah, so you have a crush on me, then?”

 Caila blushed. “What?! Come on, if I say something nice to a guy, you expect me to like him?!”

 I grinned. “But you’re getting awfully touchy, huh?”

 Caila scowled, but it was clear, that like me, she was being playful. “Oh, fine, I’ll admit I kind of… well… like you… sort of… er… but don’t think that’s some invitation!”

  “Invitation to what?”

  “Bye, Lloyd!” Caila said quickly, pushing me in the direction of the bus, and blushing so much she was like a strawberry. “You should go back to the bus now- it’s almost time to leave now, right!?”

 I grinned. “All right…” I said, and as quickly as possible pecked her on the cheek.

  “GAH!”

  “See ya!” I said, chuckling. Caila scowled, but I could tell she was still happy. Ah, childhood crushes…. Looking back, I could tell I was pretty naïve after all.

 

 Back on the bus, Spirius-1 noticed I was just a bit different. I told him I’d tell him and Juriyn back at the school.

 Once we got back, the two of us headed into the clinic. Juriyn excitedly greeted us, and I told them about Caila, and how I teased her about her crush on me, and as a joke kissed her on the cheek.

 Juriyn couldn’t stop giggling like a little girl, and Spirius-1 just smiled (or tried to), shaking his head and chuckling. “Ah, Mr. Garmadon, you’ve done it, haven’t you? You’re lovesick!”

 I shrugged. “You guys say it like she’s my future bride or something,” I said casually. “It’s just a crush!”

 Spirius-1 shook his head. “OHO, but crushes develop into real feelings all the time, my friend!”

  “I have had crushes before,” I admitted. “Once, there was this girl… but she thought I was a creep. Another just didn’t pay much attention to me. And another… well, Trexdis kidnapped me before anything happened.”

  “Aw, it’s so cute!” Juriyn giggled. I yawned. “Well, I really need to go back to the dorm and tell the others what I learned,” I said. “I hope they learned more than I did!”

 Luckily, as I soon found out, they did. When I arrived upstairs, the others were waiting for me, sitting in the sofas. Seamus was carrying a paper of which I assumed was a bunch of intel about Frared.

  “Find a lot?” I asked them. They nodded. “Boy, he just went ON and ON, until he finally realized what was happening!” Terrence chuckled.

  “Here’s what I learned,” I told them. “Yelatem had two parents, Thomas and Marka, but Marka got injured at work and they had to give birth right then and there. Thomas pushed Yelatem at everything, and our gym teacher became a boxer. His daddy passed, and at the next match, you-know-what happened, and Yelatem went broke, became a street thug, and it’s here that I assume he met Draik and the others, and Arakchos probably experimented on him.”

 The others seemed mildly impressed, like I was. “Not much,” Felix admitted. “But then again, Yelatem’s past isn’t much either.”

  “We learned a bunch, Lloyd!” Seamus told me. “According to Frared, he mentioned he was a bit of a school nerd… a geek, and even the other geeks avoided him… he was still pretty smart, though, and he eventually went to New Trek College to become a lawyer, or a doctor, or whatever… then he became a professor instead… and that’s it.”

 I shrugged, mildly impressed. “Well, I guess we can assume that he eventually met Draik and the others,” I muttered. “But then, how? Was he still a professor, or was it like with Yelatem?”

 Buzz shrugged. “Don’t know,” he admitted. “That was about when Frared stopped.”

 Felix was rubbing his chin. “Well, we now know all of Yelatem’s past, and we know Frared was a professor at New Trek College…” he admitted. “If we could somehow contact a professor there and ask about Frared, we may learn more!”

  “Hey, what happened to the book, Lloyd?” Lupus asked. I shrugged, instantly conjuring a half-lie, half-truth. “Well, I learned everything, and I didn’t need the book, so I just gave it to some random girl passing by and left.”

  “Would’ve liked to see the look on HER face, I reckon!” Terrence chuckled. I thought about the look on Caila’s face when I kissed her.

  “So, what’s next?” I asked. Felix shrugged. “Metallicus, Draik, Darkley, and Trexdis we know nothing of… but Scors, I remember, mentioned being a lawyer once, and Arakchos was a scientist as well, so if we search up about famous lawyers and scientists…”

 He shrugged. “For now, let us call it a day and relax leisurely!”

 I nodded. “Great idea!”

 Later on, at dinner, me and the Search Gang began spreading the full story of Yelatem, warning people not to let the teachers and staff know, which was smart on Felix’s part. If Yelatem found out…

 I imagined him banging on the room door, screaming, “HERE’S YELATEM!!!!” and breaking it into splinters.

 Luckily, all Yelatem was doing at the moment was wolfing down an enormous meal. The others were eating normally, except Metallicus, who was reading a book. I wondered if Metallicus was sensitive about eating in front of others, which made sense- he was probably a bit introverted, considering the fact that he wore that suit of armor all day.

 After dinner, Draik brought us to the auditorium and began yet another pointless speech… only this time, it wasn’t so pointless.

  “Welcome, students of Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys!” Draik announced, smiling viciously at all of us. This time, he was in his human form (or as like to call it, ‘Depp Mode’). “Today, as you may or may not know, several students have gone to Brooker Town and enjoyed their few days out of our wretched school, hmm?”

 Wow. Draik had this weird, charismatic way of appealing to our opinions yet making sure we despised him anyway. Maybe that’s how he got guys like Yelatem and Arakchos under his leadership.

  “And recently, as _certain students_ may have learnt from a recent edition of _Ninjagoan Times_ , our old friend Kirchonn the Invincible has failed to destroy a certain Wu Garmadon, but has managed to escape thanks to a certain ‘Golden Man’…”

 We all began chattering, surprised Draik would acknowledge this- but, as he said, all of us knew by now, and he wasn’t the stupid person to try and deny it. Even so, I noticed he mentioned the Golden Man with a lot of familiarity, and smiled even more viciously when he did… I wouldn’t be too surprised if Draik knew the Golden Man.

  “That aside, however, your history projects on the Great Spinjitzu War’s miscellaneous generals shall be due to Metallicus this Friday the 13th, so superstitious beware! …. Although, this being Metallicus we speak of, it needn’t be superstition to make you fear!”

 Everyone laughed nervously, and even stuck-up Metallicus tilted his head towards Draik, as if acknowledging this truth.

 Draik clapped his hands together. “Well, it is time to return to our dorms! Curfew is upon us! Those caught up staying late… well, our lessons require the most of your energy…”

 Draik smiled viciously, shape-shifting back into his true form and fluttering up into the shadows of the ceiling.

 As we went back to the dorm, we all began discussing Draik’s possible connection to the Golden Man.

  “Maybe they’re both alien brothers!” Seamus theorized, saying it as if he was some genius. Instead, we just shook our heads.

  “There are WAY too many contradictions to your theory, Seamus,” Diablo muttered. “For one thing, what could their parents have been like?!”

  “Just a guess, but perhaps he gave him his Gold Touch?” Felix suggested. “Draik IS a wizard after all… I wouldn’t be so surprised if he and Arakchos had quite the hand in the ghastly appearances of a few of our staff…”

  “If he could give someone so powerful a weapon,” Finn pointed out. “Why does no one else here have it?”

 I nodded. Finn was making a good point- if Draik could hand out Gold Touches like candy, then the Nikon problem would’ve been solved much earlier. Still, the others and I had a strong feeling that the two had huge connections…

  “Say, who do you think would win- your uncle, or the Golden Man?” Lupus asked me. I shrugged. “Probably the Golden Man. I mean, all he’d have to do is touch Wu…”

Now that I thought about it, I sincerely hoped the Golden Man would find my stupid uncle and beat him. And speaking of his supposed Gold Touch, Juriyn mentioned I could try searching that up…

 But I was way too tired. As soon as we got back into the dorm, I changed and went back into bed. And I figured Gene needed it more than me, because he was still working on his project.

  “Good night, guys,” I yawned as I pulled the covers over my head. Brad and the others were still awake, all doing their own thing.

  “Good night,” Brad muttered.

  “Good night, Krumm,” I muttered, and this time Krumm didn’t answer, as usual.

 


	25. Metallicus meets his Paper Mache Ancestor

 I had my first cryptic dream in a long while.

 It was even more vague than the one about the Darkley Insignia… in fact, I hardly remember anything- all I recall was a bunch of darkness, my gut feeling like it was swelling and about to explode. Voices kept scratching through the night, as if there was static, like with a radio. I heard brief snatches of four voices, although three sounded the exact same.

  “LEAVE…”

  “I WON’T… DON’T BOTHER… HARM…”

 The voices became more frantic, arguing, and with each second it felt more claustrophobic, as if I was inside a Tear and it was beginning to slowly solidify into ice, except this time there was no cold. Even then, my gut continued to feel like it was swelling, as if I was getting fatter from too many Thanksgivings.

 The voices became more chaotic, more blurred, filling my thoughts… images flashed by- Spirius-1 mopping the floor, Gene working on his project, 9 watching _The_ _Shadow Knight_ again, Yelatem snoring loudly… they all began flashing by, and when I felt my gut would explode and my mind would shatter, I suddenly woke up in a cold sweat.

 I panted, gasping as cold air hit me in the face. I was sweating pretty badly- and even though there was nothing about my dream that seemed particularly scary, I felt terrified.

 I looked around. It was pitch black, and everyone was asleep. I could hear the scratchy breathing of Brad and Richie, and Francis was just plain snoring. I looked outside, and at night everything seemed peaceful, the moonlight and stars shining. Still, it looked peaceful in a… sinister way.

 I shook it off, but I was still way too sweaty. I took off the covers and waved them around, fanning ice-cold air onto myself. Wiping away the film of sweat on my forehead, I went back to sleep.

 This time, I had the nightmare again… but it was a bit less chaotic, my head was less painful, the swelling eased a lot more, and different, more recent images flashed by…

 

  “RRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!”

 I snapped back awake, along with Richie, Brad, and Francis. We all groaned, but I was a bit louder- for one thing, I felt like I barely got any sleep, which always irritated me and made me, well… cranky. And secondly, I had a splitting headache- some sort of swelling in my brain that hurt, as if the four voices from last night were still arguing.

  “Had enough beauty sleep?” Brad sneered. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in as much of a mood to joke as him.

  “No,” I said glumly, rubbing my head. “Ugh.”

 Luckily, my headache wore off around breakfast. I guessed a warm meal of scrambled eggs and Diablo’s favorite Tabasco really helped you with a headache.

 The rest of the day went on perfectly normal, too, until history.

 It was almost the end of history class, and I was nearly finished with my project, too, after so long. Since I had, like, five days to work on it, I felt I had all the time in the world and deserved a quick break.

 I leaned back and closed my eyes, enjoying the day. Then I thought about my nightmare last night, and I began thinking about my other dreams, such as the one about the Dark Lord and Samukai, the Darkley’s Insignia, the Staff meeting, etc.

 I knew about the first dream’s meaning, but I still had no clue about the second one. Metallicus said the insignia had no other purpose besides looking cool, so maybe it had to represent someone? Who?

 I considered Darkley, the one who started the school and probably made the insignia in the first place. Maybe it had something to do with Darkley and a date? Maybe the date in question was the day I got it? And it happened the night AFTER I came to the school, so maybe it was some sort of welcome from Darkley to the school? Then again, Darkley was gone, so maybe it was Draik, the current principal… and come to think of it, Scors mentioned he had control over dreams.

 Yeah. I had a feeling that might’ve been it. Plus, if it was Draik, it made sense he never told me since the day afterwards he was away, and probably had forgotten to tell me during his absence.

 Okay, so I guess that took down two of my dreams. And the third one was blindingly obvious- it was pretty much a recording of some meeting the teachers had the night after Nikon attacked.

 Even as I thought about it, I remembered Metallicus mentioning they had potential threats. I couldn’t remember all of them, since it WAS just a dream from, like, ten days ago or something, but I remembered him mentioning the N.O.P. and a Phantom Alliance, at least.

 I wondered who the Phantom Alliance was, and what they wanted. I shrugged. Grabbing my magic encyclopedia, I dragged it out of my backpack, flipped it open, and wrote the words inside.

 Text appeared out of the faded pages like objects reemerging from murky water. Here’s what they said;

 

PHANTOM ALLIANCE

 

 One of the most controversial and revolutionary organizations in Ninjago, the Phantom Alliance had quite the daring goal. But our story first starts in the time of the Arokan Faction, not long after it had started.

 The first Venomari leader, Corrocid, had discovered something strange. After being stranded in the desert without food or water thanks to a sandstorm and other accidents that took off the rest of his party, Corrocid, while parched and starving beyond all imagination, somehow still survived.

 When he had arrived back at home, he explained this to the Serpentine doctors. Corrocid had always been strange- whenever he had cuts or such, they refused to heal until a much longer period of time, yet even then they failed to actually hinder him. Through a series of events, Corrocid discovered he was a Phantom.

 Unable to be defeated by normal means, Corrocid felt obligated to the idea of supposed immortality, and so eventually formed daring ideas in his mind- what if he could use this power to achieve _true_ immortality? And with this immortality, rule all of Ninjago? Then he came up with the idea of an empire, one that could use its abilities to take over the Underworld, letting only their allies remain immortal. Of course, tampering with the balance of Life and Death is severely foolish, but Corrocid became too greedy to be wise. That aside, the Venomari King sought after others with this strange phenomenon. He met other Phantoms, and together they all began considering the same idea.

 Ultimately, Corrocid would join the Phantom Alliance, under the leadership of Maerco. Their goal- discover the secrets of the Under World, the supposed realm of the dead. They wanted to stop death in its tracks, and use the power from this act to rule, and so sought after the aid of Dragons, said to be able to enter the Under World at will. Through bribery of the Dragons, the Phantom Alliance learned much, indeed… for within the Underworld lived Skulkin, skeletal versions of the dead. They learned how things worked, and though I myself do not know, the information they learned was revolutionary.

 However, Zavin, the first King of Death, noticed. So he formed the Dark Angels, a skulkin group meant to combat the Phantom Alliance. In the aftermath of their battles, Corrocid finally realized the error of his ways, and surrendered. Maerco, however, resumed her plans, and continued the Alliance’s missions.

 Maerco, through even more hidden conflicts, somehow convinced Zavin to her cause. However, before the two could secretly stop death, the rest of the skulkin managed to drive them away, imprisoning Zavin and supposedly reelecting a new leader. Again, my knowledge is rudimentary and based on secrets I have forced out of the mouths of Phantom hostages and casual talk mentioned in passing.

 As of now, Maerco still leads the Phantom Alliance in their bid to change the universe forever. Their forces include Phantoms, but they have been known to recruit others they have manipulated, from those whom have lost loved ones that the Alliance has (usually) secretly taken away themselves to those who fear consequences for their ghastly actions.

 

 Whoa.

 As I read, my fascination with these guys grew, along with yet another headache.

 I shook my head. These guys could easily be deemed potential rivals and threats when I grew up, and I wasn’t foolish enough to mess with the afterlife. Better to let them dig their own graves, seal their own fates.

 Still, I wondered if Maerco, along with the Dark Lord and Samukai, had her eyes on the school, and me for that matter. And even as I thought more about it, what WERE Phantoms?! The article mentioned they had some sort of immortality or something, I wasn’t sure, but what were they like?

  “RRRIIIIINNNGGGG!!!!!!”

 Startled, I accidentally dropped my pencil. Everyone else groaned, putting away their stuff.

  “So close!” Seamus cursed. “So close!”

 I stared at the empty pages of the encyclopedia, then shrugged. Oh well. It wasn’t like the Phantoms were going to be of any importance to me- not yet, anyway. Still, I decided to add them to my list of people I intend to defeat in the future. Others included most of the staff here, my uncle, and others.

 The rest of the day was uneventful, and to my surprise 100-something push ups seemed to be a good cure for my recent headache. Still, I wasn’t planning to eat Diablo’s tabasco or go through Coach Yelatem’s training regimens just to get rid of some head pains, so after gym I went down to the first floor and sought out Juriyn.

 After telling her about the headaches and the nightmare I had that night, Juriyn did the closest thing to a shrug she could.

  “I think you’re thinking too hard, Lloyd,” she told me with legitimate concern. “I mean, your dreams, Caila, all these people after you, your theories… that’s a lot of thinking. You should rest more. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt to draw and write a lot, too!”

 I nodded. Now that I thought about it, I thought a lot for a kid my age. “Thanks, Juriyn,” I told her, and I headed back up the stairs and to the dorm, where I stuffed myself into bed, hoping I wouldn’t have more of those nightmares.

 I wasn’t so lucky.

 The next several nights, I kept on having the same dream- sometimes it’d be more chaotic, others more silent, yet begrudging. And whenever the images came by, they always changed- one dream had Yelatem snoring loudly, another had him taking a sleep pill.

 I had no idea why these dreams kept sending me images of current events. I vaguely wondered if it had something to do with the dreams about the Dark Lord and Samukai, and the one about the staff meeting. Both of those, as far as I was concerned, took place at the same time I was asleep.

 Still, I did my best to rest and use my imagination. I started drawing a lot, but it was mostly highly entertaining pictures of Metallicus or Yelatem being attacked by a vicious Bone Eater.

 I also drew other things, too- I tried drawing the school once, but with a more darker and creepier atmosphere on the outside. And believe it or not, I tried drawing the other people I met in my life. It was easy drawing Metallicus- my portraits of him were always cold and empty, like he was on the outside. Interestingly enough, he became a lot more harsh and sarcastic whenever he spoke, like his voice was an entirely different person altogether.

 I tried drawing the other students, too. At one time, Finn saw me drawing Seamus and sneered at it.

  “What’re you doing?” he said, snatching the paper from me. He raised an eye. “Why’re you drawing Seamus?!”

  “Nightmares,” I snapped. “Long story. Now bug off, will ya?” These nightmares were beginning to make me cranky, even if I was getting more accustomed to them.

 Finn scowled, then tore it apart. I honestly had no idea what his deal was, but it really could’ve been anything- he could’ve been ratted on by Gene, or whatnot. Either way, it wasn’t my business to find out what happened to him 24/7, so I glared at him.

  “Whatever,” I grumbled, trying not to punch him.

 The only ones I had trouble with were the Spirius Drones and Arakchos. At first glance, they looked cold and heartless, but in reality Arakchos always radiated an aura of cruelty I could never get right, and the other drones were all so weird and zany.

 Anyways, that aside, we finally turned in our projects on the Elemental Clan generals on Friday. That morning, Diablo and Seamus kept using a bunch of special charms and weird rituals from the internet to ‘boost luck’, such as doing a luck dance involving umbrellas and crossing their fingers. They even ate Lucky Charms, and I considered pranking them with Brad that day for kicks.

 Of course, the two gave up trying when it was history class.

 Metallicus was waiting for us expectantly, the board erased clean. Watching us like a hawk, he waited for us to sit down in our seats.

  “I hope you remembered to add the final touches to your projects, students,” he sneered. “As this was the final week, that also meant you needed the most of your attention, precision, and care, this being the final stages. But now, it is too late. So I hope you are are satisfied with your work, as well as me… and also, if your forgot to bring a rubric, that’s ten points off your grade.”

 A couple of us searched frantically through our projects, and a few groaned and banged their heads on their desks. Luckily, Diablo and Seamus had theirs and silently hi-fived each other, grateful.

  “You will each come up one at a time and read your projects aloud to the class,” Metallicus told dryly. “I shall choose who comes first. Such as…”

 His finger hung above us, trying to decide which one to torment. Gene kept raising his hand, and I knew without a doubt he’d choose me first.

 Metallicus did. “How about Mr. Garmadon? As the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master, we all expect you to at least be _average_ ,” he sneered. I gave him my most scathing glare, but Metallicus merely smirked… or at least, he probably did. I honestly had no idea- for all I knew, he could be frowning, smiling, sticking his tongue out, or just wearing a poker face.

 Getting up, I got to the front of the board and took out my project, skimming my fingers through the pages before.

 “I have chosen Likus, leader of the Metal Clan, for my project today,” I declared to the class. I saw Metallicus tilt his head just barely- which made sense, since Likus was obviously his ancestor.

  “Likus’ parents were Titus, a professional assassin that was most famous for defeating Shogun Masamaki, and Kiines, the current leader of the Metal Clan, who was most famous for helping establish several mines prior to the Great Spinjitzu War that helped give the Clan territory and power during their battles.”

 Metallicus nodded in slight approval, which surprised me- but I guess I was doing a pretty decent job of explaining his own ancestor well.

  “As a child, Likus was always a loner and strayed from the others. He was also rather philosophical as well, and had many ideals. Likus was known for having jagged black hair, a brooding expression, and triangular-glasses.”

 I continued going on, and for the most part Metallicus seemed to actually be mildly impressed by my project- not so much, but just a little bit. After a few minutes, I finished reading my project.

  “Go back to your seat,” Metallicus ordered me. Nodding, I sat back down, and Metallicus chose a trembling Seamus.

 Seamus and Diablo’s projects, to my surprise, were actually pretty good, and Metallicus actually seemed impressed by them. Finn’s, Brad’s, and Francis’ on the other hand were, well… meh. Felix’s project, of course, might as well have been done by some Ninjagoan Times’ Best Selling Author, and Gene’s was… well…

 Gene chose Likus for his project, like me, but instead of doing it in the form of a packet, he instead had built a life-sized statue made of paper mache of Likus himself, or what he must’ve looked like. When Gene pressed a button a remote, a tape recording inside the mouth said, in what sounded like Gene trying to impersonate Likus, who he was and how his life was like.

 To my surprise, Metallicus didn’t seem too enthusiastic about it, either.

 After the last person, Lupus, gave his project about Tectan, Metallicus faced the class.

  “Congratulations, some of you,” Metallicus announced smugly. “Some have surprised me by doing an impressive summary of each ninja’s lives, others haven’t- for I knew of their skill already beforehand. And I must admit that you have done quite the job, for it is this ability to affectively summarize the life of another in this amount of time that will come in handy in the future- for example, a new rival or pesky enemy of yours appears, you can learn about them as quickly as possible. Know the enemy like yourself, see through their eyes, and they WILL become your puppet.”

 Gene shook in his desk excitedly, obviously knowing that he was one of those people. I wondered if I was, too- but I had a feeling Metallicus would go to any length to deny this.

  “ _Others_ , however…” Metallicus sneered. I swore his head twitched towards Brad, Francis, Finn, and a few others, but not me, for some reason. “You have failed most pathetically. But don’t worry- you still have SOME time to better your reconnaissance skills, although I do must remind you that others who have never had this school had to learn as soon as possible…”

 Metallicus clapped his hands together. “Well, the bell shall ring soon. Your grades will come back next Friday.”

 The school bell rang, and we all flooded out of the classroom and to gym class.

  “Yeesh, he makes such a big deal out of everything,” Brad grumbled. “He needs to lighten up.”

  “Tell me about it,” I yawned, popping several pieces of candy inside my mouth. I was testing out a new theory of mine- maybe if I gave myself a sugar rush at gym, I could get through the push-ups more easily.

 Speaking of sugar rushes, I noticed during my time at school that nearly every student had some weird quirk of their own: Brad liked to prank others; Finn liked to bully people; Felix had a knack of big words and literature; Gene was a teacher’s pet; Diablo liked spicy stuff and the heat; Seamus was obsessed with aliens; Buzz liked to eat a lot; Richie liked to make deals; Francis picked his nose; Terrence liked to skateboard; Lupus had terrible hygiene; and I tended to get hyper from sugar.

 In fact, I actually began making a list of quirks I noticed everyone have.

 Finn bumped into us as we walked, looking pretty grumpy and scowling a lot. “What’s _his_ deal?” I grumbled, starting to get a bit hyper already.

 Brad shrugged. “Don’t know. Although recently, Finn’s been getting pretty distracted by the whole Kirchonn incident, The Stuff, and this Golden Man the news talks about. Maybe he realized he was slacking off.”

 I snorted. “Still, that guy needs to take a chill pill, because even more recently, he’s been acting up just like he used to.”

 It was true. Just a few days ago, after he tore up my portrait of Seamus, Finn began getting pretty moody and began preying on the smaller kids more often. Being them and not me, I never helped those guys, and personally it was interesting to watch Finn resume back to his old ways now that the whole incident with the Tower of Tears was calming down.

 Still, it wasn’t my business, so I didn’t care- but if Finn messed with me…

 Well, whatever. It wasn’t like I was supposed to be pampered by him, or something.

 

 It was Sunday once again, and that meant another Search Gang meeting.

 After stuffing myself with way too much sugar and getting hyper again, I sat down in one of the chairs, trembling crazily as Felix and the others arrived back at the dorm, one by one.

  “Okay, team, so it appears we have one member from our exotic rogues gallery down,” Felix announced. “Coach Nathaniel Yelatem. And despite the massive amount of information granted foolishly to us by our own math teacher, however, I feel not the need to close his case as well.”

  “Why not?” Terrence asked, spinning the wheels on his skateboard.

  “Well, he was a professor from New Trek, which gives us just one more lead,” Felix explained.

  “O-One more l-l-lead we DO NOT have access t-to!” I chattered crazily.

  “Oh, but we COULD, young Garmadon,” Felix said with a hint of a plan. “If we could contact another professor online, we could learn more. But for now, we shall no longer focus on Frared at the moment. Today, I propose searching about Arakchos and Scors now, since Metallicus, Draik, and Trexdis’ pasts are too vague as of now.”

  “Scors is a lawyer, and Arakchos is a scientist, so maybe we should split up!” Buzz suggested. Felix nodded. “Excellent, my boy! Yes, we shall split up! One team shall head to the library to learn about Arakchos, and another shall head to our computer lab to learn of Scors!”

  “Also,” Felix added. “Since few would search up scientists… I have had to acquire a certain… someone… to help our Library Team…”

  “ME, of course!” said an all-too familiar, snobby voice. We all looked up to see Gene, grinning viciously at us.

  “N-no WAY, Felix!” I protested. “NOT Gene! The guy’s like, a total teacher’s pet and would probably give us away to Metallicus and then he would interrogate you guys like me and then we would also get in trouble with Yelatem since Metallicus would probably tell him too and then Yelatem would do a bunch of terrible stuff to us and Draik might give us irrereversible consequences whatever that means and-”

  “YO, Lloyd, calm down!” Terrence muttered. “You need to hold off on the sugar, just saying!”

  “Still, Lloyd’s got a point!” Seamus agreed with me, glaring at the smug Gene conspiratorially. “I mean, the guy would run into a brick wall if Metallicus said so! Heck, I doubt he’s even HUMAN, the way he’s so obsessed with school!”

 Before I knew it, Seamus lunged at Gene and started tugging at his face. “TAKE OFF YOUR MASK AND REVEAL YOURSELF, ALIEN!”

  “ACK! STOPPIT!” Gene snarled, trying to push Seamus, glasses askew.

  “Gene isn’t an alien, Seamus,” Felix said calmly. “…although his habits certainly are like that of an extraterrestrial.”

  “Well, you’d better not rat on us, Gene!” Lupus threatened him. “I can make your place smell with stink bombs so powerful it’d burn your sense of smell!”

  “Do note that I and Diablo live in the same room, you know…?” Felix muttered.

 Gene smiled, and I tried not to punch him- which was even harder than usual, with my sugar rush encouraging me to anyway.

  “Okay, since I am such an avid reader, I will go with Gene to the library,” Felix announced. “Anyone else?”

  “Well, I like to deal with tech, so I’ll go to the computer lab!” Seamus announced.

 Terrence shrugged. “Meh, don’t like reading either. I’m goin’ with Seamus!” I nodded in agreement. “I’m kind of h-h-hyper at the moment,” I chattered. “I doubt I can g-get the patience to read a book.”

  “I’ll go to the library with Felix, then,” Buzz muttered, shrugging, and Lupus nodded as well.

  “Well, let’s get headed, then!” Terrence announced, and we all split up.

 


	26. Democracy is used to be as petty as possible

 After what felt like a minute or two of walking, we arrived at the Computer Lab. It wasn’t too flashy- just a set of double-doors built into the middle of an otherwise empty wall made of dark wood. In golden letters above the doors, they said, quite obviously, ‘COMPUTER LAB’.

  “Well, let’s get in,” Terrence muttered. The three of us pushed through the doors and walked into the lab. It was pretty big- not as large as Arakchos’, and only a little smaller than the first floor of the library.

 Rows and rows of wooden tables with Computers on them filled the area, with plush seats and about a million outlets everywhere. In one corner was a small little area surrounded by desks, with a large, La-Z-Boy chair in the middle, and several outlets, papers, printers, computers, laptops, aPads, Maxsungs, phones, coffee machines, and pretty much every device known to man that could access the internet.

 The three of us felt the unnatural chill of air conditioning, and the whirring and beeping of computers unsettled us a bit. Luckily, at least one or two students were at the computers.

 Before I could say anything, a shape suddenly swooped right in front of us.

  “ALIEN!!!!” I screamed, and to this day I have no idea why I said that- I guess Seamus’ rants and my sugar rush made me say the first thing that came to mind.

  “I’m not an alien, you twit!” said a mechanical, female voice that reminded me of an angry lizard.

 It was about the size of Felix, with a head topped on a curved neck. The sides of the head were jagged, with two triangular, ghastly green eyes glared at us. Sticking out of its back was a long rod, with a strange siren on it, like a police one, but the lights were off. On the sides of the siren were weird headphone-like speakers.

 Its body was mostly rectangular, with no legs, and it had four insectoid, glowing wings sticking out of its back, which unfortunately reminded me of Nikon. It had long, spindly arms with even longer fingers, which reminded me of spider limbs. And, like all Spirius Drones, it had the same tech-design all over its body that glowed green, and a black metal body.

  “Welcome to the Computer Lab,” she said sourly. “I am Spirius-5, and I am in charge of the Computer Lab. No drinks, no food, or anything that can ruin the computers!”

 She eyed me warily, and noticing my sugar rush, looked at my pockets. “NO CANDY!” she hissed.

  “Fine,” I grumbled, reaching into my pockets and dumping out a few twizzlers and Mars Bars.

  “Good,” Spirius-5 hissed viciously, reminding me a little of Metallicus and Arakchos, like someone took their least desirable qualities, mixed them in a blender, and threw whatever was inside into the Computer Lab.

  “You may each take a computer each,” 5 explained. “Wave and click the mouse to make sure if a computer isn’t sleeping. If it isn’t, press the power button, choose a server, and do as you please. The rest is on this poster about additional information, such as certain websites for projects, etc.”

 Spirius-5 fluttered her wings at ultra speed and buzzed off back to her little corner.

  “Ugh. I’ve always hated her,” Terrence muttered.

  “R-reminds me of Metallicus and A-Arakchos!” I chattered angrily. Seamus nodded in agreement.

  “Well, you know the drill,” Terrence muttered, and we each headed to our own computers, turned them on, and went online.

 I went on Gugle and searched up ‘Vaidd Scors, Lawyer’. I got a bunch of random stuff about lawyers, and for some reason, scores on random tests, and I scrolled through them all until I came across one site filled with a bunch of old newspaper articles. One of them said, ‘VAIDD SCORS PREVAILS IN 3-BLADED SAM CASE- AUTHORITIES BAFFLED’, and I knew I hit the jackpot.

 I clicked on it…

 And instead of the entire article on the screen, I got a pop-up with the Darkley’s insignia on it that said, “I’M SORRY- WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCESS THIS SITE. PLEASE TRY ANOTHER LINK.”

 I snorted. “As if!” I hissed. Now that I thought about it, it made sense- if Metallicus erased any pages in the library that mentioned Yelatem, then of course we couldn’t access any links that had information on the staff.

 I groaned- that probably meant that we had to either get our own non-school computer, or borrow someone else’s outside of school… great. Now we had to wait next month, December 8th, to get information about Scors and Arakchos. It seemed like we did most of our research up-close or outside of school, so I wondered if we should just schedule our meetings on the 8thof every month.

 Still… the headline mentioned something about a 3-Bladed Sam, who sounded pretty familiar… I’m pretty sure Ms. Chafer back at the orphanage mentioned him, and I swore I heard his name in some case with this street thug on some channel Chafer was watching, and some of the older adults mentioned his name in passing, too. I even encountered his name when I accidentally wrote it inside my magic encyclopedia.

 Maybe I could search him up, and Vaidd Scors would come up? I probably wouldn’t learn much, but I’d at least have a minor lead.

 I considered searching up Sam in my encyclopedia, which I brought along just in case. I shrugged- why not? Metallicus may have been a creep who acted as if every history lesson was some huge advance in science or something, but he wasn’t a liar, and you could count on him to get every detail right.

 Flipping open my book, I took out a pencil and wrote in, ‘3-Bladed Sam’. Ink emerged from the paper, slithering into shapes and forms until I got an entire article. Here’s what it said;

 

3-BLADED SAM

 

 3-Bladed Sam has, and as many agree, always will be the most feared criminal lord in all of Ninjago. The first leader of the entire crime syndicate in this continent, Sam was notorious with the amount of power he had, and the crimes he managed to pull off and even get away with.

 Little is known about his origins- some say he was a former member of the currently disbanded League of Samurai that participated in its schism. Others insist he was an orphan cast into the streets whose heart grew icy at the age of 5. And many claim that Sam was the child of a wealthy family that simply ended up cruel and took after crime to entertain himself.

 Whatever his origins, 3-Bladed Sam, according to some sources, managed to climb his way to the top of Ninjago’s crime with tenacity and fury. Sam got his nickname due to the 3 swords he wielded- a katana, a broadsword, and a scimitar. Sam was ruthless, and formed the entire Ninjagoan crime syndicate into the Terror Triads, each Triad specializing in certain crimes, from sabotage to the theft of artifacts.

 3-Bladed Sam was described as a brooding man, known to wear a mask that covered his face. Supposedly, he had a cold fury to him, and had been known to attack large, wealthy companies, and as he said once, “I make it my business to bring down the mighty, to humble them- I don’t bring down those who have already been humbled, however.”

 Eventually, though, Sam and his Triads began attacking all indiscriminately, and Sam was infamous for constantly avoiding arrest thanks to his powerful and charismatic lawyer,            , whom was infamous for helping Sam get away with his most obvious crimes. Sam also made deals with the criminal organization, the Techno League, for weapons and tech, and in return he gave them funding for their research. However, he ultimately brought in his own defeat when he and his Triads attacked the Yetnas Energy Center in Terris, in a bid to not only shut off all power to Ninjago, but also hack into its online bank accounts and drain them all of their money.

 Luckily, remnant members from the loyal side of the League of Samurai and the founders of the future N.O.P. managed to finally stop Sam, where he supposedly perished thanks to the ensuing explosion.

 Though Sam had lost that day, he still managed to at least start a continental blackout across Ninjago, dubbed, ‘The Storm of Shadow’. Many have referred to the restoration process after the Storm of Shadow and the disbandment of the Terror Triads as ‘After the Blackout’.

 The Terror Triads, without a leader, promptly split. Some of the triads, such as the Tracker or Arson Triad, eventually disbanded over time, and others, such as the Hostage, Gamble, and the feared Jaywalking Triad have survived, the most active being the Artifact Triad.

 Sam’s legacy still lived on in these Triads. Many denizens fear Sam’s name, and many criminals hail Sam as a god.

 

 Wow. So that’s who this 3-Bladed Sam was.

 Oh well. He was dead and gone, so who cared? But what really got my attention was that blank space in the middle of the article- I had a feeling it was none other than our friend Scors’ name, but Metallicus probably removed it.

 Also, the article mentioned the Triads and a Techno League, both of which sounded familiar. I thought about it a bit more, and then realized- I heard Metallicus mention both of those organizations are potential threats to the boarding school!

 I remembered… Metallicus said that the Techno League, while a threat, had no interest in the school… but more interestingly enough, he mentioned that the Triads were somehow under their control.

 Then I remembered- Scors supposedly helped save Sam’s butt thousands of times before. Who was to say Scors eventually became something of an heir? That would explain him having control over the Triads, and thus helping supply the school.

 Now it all made sense, and I couldn’t help but get excited over it. I had just learned something incredibly enormous, vast in size- and I couldn’t tell the other students.

 Bummer. But it was true- if I told them the secret, I’d have to tell them about my dream, and eventually about Nikon, which I wasn’t so enthusiastic about.

 Still, it was clear our friend Scors here wasn’t the most clean lawyer, and as I thought about it, it might’ve explained how the boarding school avoided the N.O.P.’s attention- if it had HIS and the remnants of a criminal empire’s help, of course it would!

 I began to wonder who this Techno League was, though- it sounded like the Terror Triads did business with them, but as Metallicus mentioned, they were certainly not under their control.

 Still, I decided I could find out later. Switching to the computer, I began typing up more about 3-Bladed Sam. However, virtually everything didn’t bother to mention Vaidd Scors, and what few links contained info on him couldn’t be accessed.

 Feeling I had enough, I went over to Seamus and Terrence and told them what I learned.

  “Nice,” Terrence praised. “Seamus and I found out the same, but it’s still progress.”

 Seamus, however, wasn’t as optimistic.

  “Still, we have to send someone outside the school again!” he grumbled. I shrugged, having calmed down from my last sugar rush.

  “We could just reschedule them on the 8thof every month,” I suggested. “The bulk of our information seems to come from outside of the school.”

 Terrence thought about it. “Let’s talk to Felix about it,” he decided. “Even though we didn’t really elect one, Felix’s the closest thing to a leader we have.”

  “Huh.” Personally, I didn’t like the idea of choosing a leader for the gang unofficially- and even if we did, I think I’d like to have tried out for the position myself.

 The three of us headed back to the dorm, where Gene, Felix, Lupus, and Buzz were waiting for us, skimming through several piles of books.

  “Aha!” Felix said when we arrived. “So, have you learned anything?”

 Terrence nodded. “The three of us found out that Scors, during his time as a lawyer, helped the leader of the Terror Triads, 3-Bladed Sam, get away with a bunch of crimes.”

  “Nice!” Lupus praised. Gene pushed his glasses up his nose.

  “Interesting,” he said slowly. “It isn’t much, but we certainly have an idea as to why he was chosen for the staff!”

  “Again, though, we need to get out of the school to find out about more Vaidd Scors,” I added.

  “Say, what’s Gene still doing here?” Seamus demanded. Felix shrugged. “Well, Gene has been doing a rather fine job of research, so we’ve been considering making him an honorary member, at the very least,” he explained.

  “ _He’s_ been suggesting it,” Buzz muttered. “Not me- not Lupus- just him.”

  “Well, let’s vote, then,” I decided, ready to get rid of the geek as soon as possible. I honestly wanted to see his reaction when all of us voted him out.

  “All in favor of Gene staying, raise hands,” I declared.

 Only Felix did, and reluctantly.

  “All in favor of _not_ letting him join,” I said, grinning nastily at Gene.

 The rest of the Search Gang, only Felix excluded, raised hands.

 Gene scowled, putting away his book. “Fine then,” he snarled. “It’s not like I should waste my time with you nincompoops!” Gene stormed off.

  “Nincompoops?” Terrence muttered, unimpressed. Buzz shifted around a bit.

  “Am I the only one who feels a bit guilty about ganging up on Gene, because I do,” he admitted.

 I thought about that. Buzz might’ve had a point- angering Gene might’ve given him more reason to report to Metallicus about what the Search Gang learned. On the other hand, he probably would’ve done it anyway, so I decided I had chosen correctly.

  “Speaking of which,” Seamus added. “Now that _he’s_ out of the equation, what did you guys learn?” He gestured towards Felix, Buzz, and Lupus.

  “We’ve scrolled through every page in these blasted books, and yet we’ve got nothing so far,” Felix admitted.

  “Except this,” Lupus interrupted, shaking excitedly. We all stared.

  “GET ON WITH IT!” we yelled simultaneously. Lupus began reading the page loudly.

  “The studies of Androids and Robotics first started in 1989, led by Trent Juler. Many scientists have contributed to its study, the more famous and intelligent including Messiman Kates, Vincent Peckers, Anna Binns, Johanna Pikles, Barry Zent, Trya Tessin, _Melissa Arakchos_ , and Ethan Bovinos.”

 We all began slapping Lupus on the back. “Nice one, dude!” Terrence praised.

  “That aside, though,” I interrupted. “We at least know Arakchos did some android stuff, which makes more sense than sliced bread when you take a look at her Spirius Drones.”

  “How in the world someone with such a promising career ended up being a teacher baffles me,” Seamus admitted.

  “Maybe she just decided she wanted to be evil and joined this school?” I suggested, sensing a window of opportunity. “I mean, after all, just look at how sadistic she acts! I wouldn’t be too surprised if Arakchos came up with a few experiments too… for lack of better term, _extreme_ , for her colleagues’ tastes. But with Draik and the others, there’s no such thing as extreme, so Draik, needing someone with her smarts, offers to let her do as she pleases, and she ends up joining the staff!”

  “In fact,” I added, now on a roll. “Maybe Vaidd Scors was hired by Draik to give this school legal immunity since he was so good at his job, and because Scors needed someone else that was super rich and had a lot of power to pay him!”

  “You’re like a super genius, Lloyd, coming up with this stuff!” Terrence praised, slapping me on the back. The others began praising me, and I had to admit I almost felt that lifting feeling of superiority or whatnot. Did I feel guilty about manipulating Felix, Gene, Lupus, Buzz, Seamus, and Terrence? Well… only a little. But really, they should’ve seen through it.

  “Okay, so while this is based on assumption,” Felix summed up. “We now know that Arakchos was once an expert on Androids and Robotics, but due to her extremity, she was forced to be hired by Draik instead, in return she aids him. Genius!”

  “And our secretary Vaidd Scors was a lawyer who helped 3-Bladed Sam get away with his crimes and later sought out work with Draik,” Terrence added. “You know what, I don’t even think we need to keep searching these guys up! It’s clear we’ve got all the important dirt on them!”

 We began hi-fiving each other- already three meetings and we had Yelatem, Arakchos, and Scors figured out. Frared’s past was due to be finished- all we needed was a little more confirmation. Now that left Metallicus, Trexdis, and Draik.

 We all knew, from what Metallicus said, that he was a traveler in his youth and had defeated a Mantore at one point. I also theorized that he was the descendant of Likus, the Metal Clan’s last leader.

 I then wondered if I could simply just ask Trexdis about her past- she trusted me. But then, what if she trusted me not to tell the others? As much as I liked to exercise my smarts, I couldn’t betray her like that- she was my friend, like Juriyn, Spirius-1, and the other students, Finn and Gene aside.

  “So, what’d you dweebs learn?” Finn sneered, walking over. I glared at him, but I decided to tolerate him for now- I was in too much of a good mood.

  “Well, some of this is based on theory and speculation, but we think we’ve got Scors and Arakchos’ history down,” Felix explained. He told Finn about what we learned, and how I pieced together the clues.

 Finn nodded, mildly impressed. “Hmm. Not bad, I’ll at least tell you that- say, being who I am,” he added, showing off his needle-like claws underneath his nails. “Maybe I could go visit Arakchos, soften her up, and use flattery to find out if she built her body herself.”

 Seamus blinked, surprised. “Really?”

 Finn frowned at him, but shrugged. “I’ll pummel you any day,” he sneered. “I’ll give you atomic wedgies, stuff your heads down the toilet, cheat off of your tests, but we’re in the same prison and stuck here, so I might as well learn more about it.”

  “Learn, huh?” I eyed Finn. “You know, all this stuff about seeking knowledge reminds me of Metallicus and his speeches. For all I know, his words might finally be rubbing off on us.”

  “Ugh.” Seamus began rubbing Metallicus’ invisible words off of himself.

  “Still, this is a rather generous favor, Ayabbers!” Felix said. “How about you simply join our Search Gang?”

 I tried not to let my face reveal too much, but it probably fell, because Finn, being the most-feared bully here, already had a huge reputation- and being part of the infamous Search Gang might make him too powerful…

 I shook my head. Finn, as far as I knew, was too dumb and simple-minded to consider that. As far as I knew, he was solely in this for the knowledge, and while I was in it for that, too (having learned more than I bargained), I also wanted to use it to my advantage, because if there’s one thing I learned from every school I went to, it was all about reputation.

 Still, I was going to vote against Finn joining anyway, because I could never be too safe.

  “All those not in favor of Finn joining, please raise your hand,” Felix announced.

 Me, Seamus, and Lupus raised our hands. Finn glared at us, but I wasn’t too concerned at the moment- I could fight back, and from what I knew Finn targeted the smaller guys, like Seamus.

  “And all those in- oh, never mind, we already know,” Felix sighed. Gesturing towards himself, Buzz, and Terrence. “It looks like a tie. We need to somehow settle this!”

 He slammed his fist into his palm. Suddenly, Gene appeared.

  “What about me?” he asked, grinning nastily at me. I suddenly realized what his plan was, and tried not to attack him right there.

 Felix shrugged. “Why not?” he muttered. “Being considered as an honorary member makes you eligible.”

  “Well, I say yes to it,” Gene declared. Felix clapped his hands. “Well, that’s it! Finn Ayabbers, I posthumously welcome you to our club the Search Gang!”

 Felix shook Finn’s hand. As I thought about it, I decided this was only a minor setback, and as I mentioned before, I knew Finn lacked the ambition like me to be threat. So it didn’t matter in the either way, and I guess I could’ve used the extra help.


	27. The Great Paintball Battle

 Later on that day, after lunch, we began spreading word of our discovery, again making everyone swear not to let the teachers know- after all, Scors clearly had his own resources, and Arakchos I didn’t even want to think about.

 As we spread the truth, Finn helped make things easier by threatening everyone big-time about not telling the teachers, which really did help secure our –temporary- safety. Still, I had a feeling it was only a matter of time…

 Of course, if they did find out, they’d have no one to blame but themselves, because they brought us up to do this kind of stuff.

 Still, after dinner that day, we all headed to the auditorium where Draik and the others were waiting.

  “Welcome, students!” he declared happily, transforming into his human form. “As I have noticed, our school has been thriving happily, thanks to our staff!”

  _Yeah, thanks to a certain member,_ I thought to myself, glaring at Scors- now, I realized I might as well have put him on my enemy list, because it was his fault Draik and the others hadn’t been caught in the act, and thanks to that, I was still here. That, and because he viewed us students as nothing more than expensive property.

  “As you may have noticed, much of our Training mostly consists of strategy, hmm?” Draik admitted. “Alas, however, it is all from paper and pencils, not first-person experience! This is bad, for you must be taught as destroyers and warriors! Experience is knowledge, and knowledge is power!”

 Draik gestured around the auditorium, and several double-doors opened from the walls, five each.

  “Each class shall enter these newly-built passages, where each student shall be equipped with paint-ball equipment!”

 A lot of us cheered, and I had to admit that I was excited- I had always wanted to play paint-ball, even though I heard it hurt a lot.

  “Together, the class will have to venture into small, underground fortresses, where their class’ homeroom teacher lies, hidden, in one of the rooms. Your goal is to get past the guards, all stationed with paint guns, and shoot your home-room teacher!”

 Now we all went wild, except for a section of us- probably Trexdis’ home class, since Trexdis was so nice to us.

  “However, each teacher shall command his or her guards from their room via special networks and such,” Draik explained. “So, enter your designated labyrinth and beware- _ahem,_ prepare!”

 The teachers began leading their home-room classes to each of the entrances. Frared led us to the one at the very left.

  “Okay, class,” he explained as we all went down a flight of stairs. “At the bottom of these stairs is a room filled with racks holding special suits of paint ball-armor. They’re designed to cover you completely, masks included, yet they’re light.”

  “Sensors built into the armor indicate to you whenever you’re hit by paint, and how serious the damage would be in real life, and on your visors in a heads-up display is a bar of health. Again, depending on what would happen in real life, these bars will lower gradually, or lose a bunch of damage and then stop!” Frared explained.

  “Like a videogame?” Seamus asked.

  “Pretty much!”

 We arrived at the chamber, and like Frared said, several racks holding our armor were there.

  “Good-bye! And good luck!” Frared yelled, hurrying back up the stairs.

 We all began grabbing this ‘armor’ and putting it on. It was mostly made of nylon and leather pads, and it was pretty much a body-suit. We wore special helmets with orange visors that covered our eyes and masks that covered out faces, and it seriously looked cool. Our Paint-ball guns were cool, too, and we each got a wooden shield- not too big, not too small.

  “This is so awesome!” Seamus muttered, giggling with excitement. Somehow, he managed to fit his helmet over his alien mask.

  “Well, we should figure out a plan of strategy,” Felix said.

  “We should split into groups,” I said, before anyone else could speak. I needed to show I could be smart and charismatic if I wanted to get respect. “Not too much, not too little. Each group should have a scout, to check around corners. They shouldn’t be too big, or they’ll be bulky. Whenever someone attacks, we split up so it’ll be harder to get us, and a few should always watch the back.”

 Several of the others nodded in agreement.

  “Well, that’s the best one,” Felix decided. “Anyone else have other ideas?”

 Then Finn raised his hand.

  “I think we should just travel in one huge group,” Finn explained. “That way, we’ll be too powerful to take down. And if we get ambushed, some of us can hide behind others. Whenever we see certain passages, we send in at least one scout to each passage. If they get shot out of our view, we’ll still hear it, since getting shot by paint-balls is pretty loud. And if they shot a guard, they’ll just tell us it’s safe, and we go on. And if they get shot by a guard, we send in more to take them down. Those guys will make a shield using the ones they have.”

 Now everyone nodded in agreement.

  “Well, then, which strategy do you choose?” Felix asked the others. The majority chose Finn.

 I glared at Finn. It was clear Finn was already seen as a threatening individual already, but the fact that he beat me in a bid of strategy irritated me. I needed to get my game on.

 Felix gestured to a pair of metal double-doors. “Once we’re ready, we’ll tell these doors to open,” he explained.

 Finn began organizing out formation, the bigger, slower, and taller ones acting as shields at the outside, and the smaller and faster kids near the inside.

 Finn himself stood at the front, and I was around the left. “Ready, Dweebs?” he asked us. We all nodded.

  “Open!” he yelled at the doors.

 The double-doors opened…

 And waiting for us was Spirius-8 and $, covered in armor, and each wielding a shield and Paint-ball gun.

  “Aloha, Losers!” Spirius-$ cackled, letting loose paint on us with Spirius-8, who blasted giant globs of it with his head-cannon.

 We all screamed and promptly scattered. I could hear the sounds of paint rushing past my ears as several of my fellow students began screaming or yelling “CURSES!” or “Aw, man!” as they got battered with paint.

  “HAHAHA!!!!” 8 cackled, hiding behind two shields. He blasted Buzz full-on in the face with a giant paint blob. Buzz fell on his butt, groaning.

 A few flecks of paint got on my shoulder, and the health bar on my visor lowered, but just a little bit. Me and a few others ran to my left down a corridor, went to the right, making sure Spirius-$ and 8 weren’t after me.

 I stopped, panting, and looked up. Apparently, Brad, Finn, Lupus, and Diablo had followed me.

  “Well, it looks like your little plan was a total DISASTER,” I snarled at Finn. Honestly, I had no idea how he, who was at the very front, avoided getting shot. However, I noticed his shield was dripping with paint,  and he was covered in flecks of the stuff, so it was clear he hadn’t gotten away unscathed.

  “Better than yours, Dweeb!” Finn retorted. Before we could get into any further arguments, Brad got between us.

  “Take a chill pill, guys,” he said smoothly. “Listen, either way, $ and 8 were waiting for us. Now, we need to figure out a plan of action- and let’s whisper, too, or else one of the other Spirius drones might hear us around the corner.”

 Nodding, we all huddled in a circle (except Diablo, who looked around to make sure no one snuck up on us) and began to whisper furiously.

  “All right, so it’s clear $ and 8 are planning to stay where they are, which makes the most sense,” I explained. “After all, if they move at random intervals, it gives us the chance to sneak behind them. That means those two are cutting us off from the other students that went down the two corridors, besides the one we went down,” I explained.

  “So we either continue on, or we take down $ and 8,” Finn interrupted. “I say we gang up on those two, forming a defense with our shields and firing at them.”

 Everyone nodded. “Well, I was already going to say it…” I muttered, glaring at Finn.

 We crept back to the bend, getting into position and locking our shields together. Before Finn got the chance, I signaled the others with my fingers, silently counting to three.

 One… two…

 Suddenly, we heard Spirius-$ yell, “BON VOYAGE, SUCKAHS!” The sounds of paint splatters and cursing students rang through the air.

  “Someone else must’ve had a similar idea, or were just stupid,” I summed up. “Let’s go!”

 Going around the corner, we saw Felix, Francis, and three other kids firing at $ and 8, hiding behind their shields. One of the anonymous kids got blasted in the face by $, who was hiding pretty well behind his shield.

  “RUN, RUN, I’M COMING FOR YOU!!!” he cackled maniacally.

  “Let’s shoot him, guys!” Finn said. We unleashed paint on $ and 8.

 But 8’s torso suddenly did a 360, and his shields protected him from the mess. Getting behind $, thus protecting both his and $’s behinds, 8 began blasting paint globs at us.

  “THIS IS DARKLEY’S!!!!” he declared. I felt the force of one of his blobs on my shield, and I have to admit, it nearly swept me off of my feet.

 Several flecks of paint managed to fly past $ and 8’s shields, splattering on them. Felix and his group began to close in on the duo, with only Felix, Francis, and one anonymous kid left. Finn gestured at us, and we began to slowly close in on $ and 8.

 Finally, even as the anonymous kid on Felix’s side got blasted, Felix and Francis close in on $ from both sides. $ ducked Felix’s first shot even as he simultaneously fired at Francis. Francis only got a few flecks on his body, but Felix tackled $ up-close and fired relentlessly.

  “HEY!” $ yelled. “CHEATER!”

   8 was momentarily distracted, and I landed a clear shot on his shoulder. With most of his health gone, 8 let loose one last, desperate shot, nailing Diablo on the face.

  “NNOOO!!!!” Diablo screamed over-dramatically, purposely doing what I figured was supposed to be a slow-motion fall to the ground.

 Francis nailed 8 on the back, but he managed to take down Felix, too, sending a giant blob on his chest.

  “OH, the agony of defeat!” Felix moaned, even as 8 began cursing at us. $ got to his feet.

  “Butt faces!” he snarled. “If this was a REAL conflict, I could’ve shot down you all!”

  “Have fun being taken down by the others!” 8 cackled, and he and $ scuttled off, well… somewhere.

  “Well, I guess that’s it, then,” Felix muttered, while Diablo kept on falling down in slow motion.

  “Yeah… well, bye!” Brad replied. I shook crazily, feeling the thrills of the fight soaking into me.

  “WOO-HOO!!!” I fired a few paint-balls for no reason at all.

  “Watch it, Garmadon!” Finn grumbled. I shrugged, walking around crazily in circles.

  “Wait, so what happens when you lose all your health?” Lupus asked.

  “We go over there,” Felix explained, pointing back in the chamber, where most of my class and Buzz were standing covered in paint.

  “Hi.” They all said simultaneously.

  “And so, with the air of disgraced honor, I hurry back to join my fallen comrades in peace,” Felix declared, joining them.

  “Okay…” Brad muttered, perplexed.

  “HA-HA!” I grabbed Diablo’s fallen paint-ball gun. “TWO guns!” Brad grabbed a random shield, and Lupus, Francis, and Finn snatched a few cans of paint.

  “Obviously, there’s no one left at the right corridor, so maybe it’s a dead end,” Finn said. I shot off to the right, peeked around the corner, and ran back, fueled by the thrill of the chase.

  “NO ONE! NO ONE!” I chattered crazily.

  “You’re enjoying this too much,” Lupus muttered.

  “Okay, since $ and 8 are out of the way, we should go up the main corridor and find any other allies,” Brad decided. Nodding, we headed up the corridor as silently as possible, and it eventually split off in perfectly perpendicular passages, like a T.

 The five of us looked around warily, shields ready. Finally, at the end of the right passage, Terrence and five other kids I don’t remember the names of arrived.

  “Don’t shoot!” Terrence yelled. I noticed that he was carrying his skateboard, which was covered in paint.

  “Cool sh-shield!” I muttered, trembling with excitement. Terrence nodded. “Used it ta shield myself.”

  “What’d you find down there?” Finn pointed down the passage they came from. Terrence shrugged. “We found another T in the road and got ambushed by some drone, who I didn’t recognize- probably Spirius-4. Either way, he’s dangerous.”

 Terrence gestured at his group. “Our numbers used to be twelve.”

  “Dang,” Brad muttered. I swirled my guns. “Let’s AMBUSH him! HAHA!”

  “We’d waste our time and resources,” Finn argued.

  “We gotta clear out the WHOLE place f-from all the Spirius Drones, and we already took down $ and 8, so… um…”

 My brain tried to calm down enough so I could do simple subtraction.

  “Uhm… we’ve got EIGHT left!”

 I held up eight fingers for emphasis.

  “Good point,” Brad agreed. “We’ve got to get rid of as many as we can, and if we get rid of the big goliath, we can move on more easily,” he decided. “Spirius-4 will probably give pursuit eventually.”

 We all nodded, reloaded out paint-ball guns, and moved on down the passage. We turned left, went on several more meters, and finally turned left.

  “Down that corner is Spirius-4,” Terrence whispered. “Pretty sure he’s the guy who hangs out at the energy room or something.”

 We silently crept… slowly…. The corner kept coming into reach…

 And then Francis sneezed.

 Before we could yell at him, something from around the corner began firing what looked like an airborne river of paint, splattering onto the left wall. We heard clanking footsteps, and we realized Spirius-4 was going after us, using his paint-blasts as a shield.

  “ _RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ ” I screamed, scrambling down the passage along with the others. Terrence got on his skateboard and used it to give himself a head start.

By the time I got out of that particular passage, back at the T in the road, I looked and saw as the five unnamed students and Brad were placed under an enormous barrage of paint. Before I knew it, they –and the wall behind them- were completely covered head-to-toe in paint.

  “Blegh….” One of the unnamed students muttered. Another one fainted.

  “I’M COMING FOR YOU!” a deep, surly voice roared. It sounded like the voice of some dumb street thug.

 “ACK!” The five of us, Finn, Me, Lupus, Terrence, and Francis bolted down to the left passage of the T.

 Even as we hid behind the corner, we listened as the metal footsteps slowly began to get fainter and fainter.

 “I-is he still there?” I whispered nervously, trying to keep my teeth from chattering together.

 To test, Francis threw his shield out into the open. Nothing.

  “I guess it’s safe,” he said slowly, walking out to get his shield back.

 Before Terrence could call him an idiot, a wall of paint slammed into Francis and the wall behind him so hard, smothering them in so many layers of paint, that by the time it was done, I couldn’t even find Francis in the paint that was left behind.

 Then a small opening appeared in the wall. “Run.”

  “YYEEEEAAAAGGGHHH!!!!!!” We all bolted down the corridor.

  “I’M NOT THAT STUPID!!!” Spirius-4 roared, unleashing another river of paint. Even as we rounded the corner at the end of the passage, I got a glimpse of Spirius-4.

 4 was short and bulky, about the size of Spirius-5. He had a large head, shaped like the Superman insignia, with a V-shaped visor. He had a large, bulky torso, with shoulder pads that had little vents in them to get rid of heat. He had short, stubby legs, with metal blocks for feet, and his legs were attached to the ends of spinning plates, so whenever the plates spun, his legs moved up and down, pointing down.

 He had short, bulky arms, covered in armor, and at the end of each one was a giant paint-ball gun. On his back were two giant canisters of paint, and he had a third gun hanging off of his left shoulder, with a bandolier strapped with paint cans connected to it. Like all Spirius drones, he was made of black metal, with glowing, green tech-and-circuit designs all over his body.

 The three of us kept running, going down certain passages, until we encountered another T and turned right.

 Waiting for us was Spirius-7 and 1.

  “Sorry, Garmadon!” 1 cackled, firing his paint-ball gun. 7 had hers attached to the end of her scorpion-like tail, and she slithered forward, firing at us while Spirius-1 stayed behind. Meanwhile, we could hear 4 running towards us.

 I hid behind Terrence, firing crazily at 7. “EAT PAINT, SNAKE-BOT!!!!” I yelled, splattering paint everywhere. Finn joined me, shooting paint at 7 and 1.

 Before I knew it, 7 rammed her head into Terrence, hissing. “No last words for you Filachi!”

 I fired at her as crazily as possible, but it was too late. Spirius-7 blasted Terrence in a bath of paint.

  “CURSES!” Terrence screamed. Meanwhile, 1 stayed on the defensive, waiting for Spirius-4 for backup. Lupus, deciding to go on the offensive, ran towards Spirius-1… and slipped on some paint, falling down. Before he could get back to his feet, Spirius-1 shot him down.

  “We gotta move!” Finn yelled. “Go go GO!”

 I shrugged, abandoning Terrence.  “Take this!” Terrence groaned, throwing Finn his skateboard. Finn caught it, and said, “Thanks, Dweeb!” Meanwhile, we heard Spirius-1 yell, “About time!”

 We got around the corner, barely avoiding a river of paint. Finn got on Terrence’s skateboard, and promptly slipped and fell.

  “Never mind!” he growled, getting back up. “This thing’s only good for as a shield!”

 We came across another T in the road, where a group of four anonymous students were hiding.

  “Hey, guys!” they yelled, getting into the open. Finn and I dove behind a corner, even as those guys got splattered by a river of paint.

 Before I could even laugh at them for being so stupid, Spirius-1 suddenly jumped around the corner, soaring into the air.

  “Ha-ha!” he began firing at us even as he fell.

 I shot back, but 1 fell too quickly and fired at me a few times, depleting my health too much for my own tastes. Suddenly, Finn slid Terrence’s skateboard to the spot where 1 would land. Spirius-1 landed on the skateboard, slipped, and crashed into the ground, even as Finn and I shot him down.

  “Sorry for that!” I yelled, and Finn and I continued running until we could no longer hear Spirius-4.

 Finn and I paused for a breath, trying to rest as much as possible before moving.

  “Yeesh,” I muttered. “We must be the last ones left!”

  “Dweeb, remind me how much we took down,” Finn panted.

 I calmed my brain down for a moment, counting the Spirius drones.

  “Okay, so $, 8, 7, and 1 are down,” I said slowly. “That 5, 4, 6, 2, 3, and 9. Um… wait… yeah, 6 in total.”

 I suddenly heard the faintest noise in the air- and Finn and I whipped around and began firing crazily.

 Spirius-6 levitated in and out of our shots, only getting flecks on herself as he continued firing, a paint-ball gun attack to her side. The screens of light acted as shields, and to my surprise, whenever a paint-ball hit them, it vaporized.

  “Those things must be a lot hotter than they look,” Finn grunted, firing. The both of us backed down the right passage, even as 5 joined her.

  “I WILL PWNZ NOOBZ!!!!” she screamed. Suddenly, the little siren on her flashed, unleashing a light so bright it nearly blinded us.

  “Ack!” Finn and I closed our eyes, and unable to see, focused on protecting ourselves and running down the passage, where the light was only a faint shimmer from around the corner.

  “WE GOTTA KEEP RUNNING!” I screamed.

  “You know, we seem to do nothing but run recently!” Finn grumbled. We rounded a passage, even as we heard 5, 6, and the clanking footsteps of Spirius-4 come after us.

  “I’VE GOT A CRAZY PLAN!” I randomly yelled. The thrill of the chase must’ve made my brain get hyperactive, too, because I began thinking of a plan. “LET’S HIDE BEHIND OUR SHIELDS AND SHOOT RANDOMLY!!!”

  “That’s a terrible plan!” Finn snapped.

  “DO YOU HAVE ANY BETTER ONES?!”

  “NO!”

 We stopped, turned around, got our shields ready, and as soon as Spirius-5 rounded the corner, shot as crazily as possible.

  “AAAAAAGGHHH!!!!!!”

 For a moment, it seemed we did nothing, and I swore the light kept getting closer… brighter…

 Until we heard Spirius-5 scream in frustration.  “U HACKZ!” she snarled, even as the light died, revealing a paint-splattered 5, with 6 coming behind her.

 We looked behind us to see Richie and Gene, fully-armed. “Let’s do this!” Richie yelled. Nodding, the four of us focused fire on 6.

 Spirius-6 managed to guard herself with her light shields. Then, I being crazy and all, did an incredibly stupid thing- I ran and slid underneath 6. Even as she tried to shoot at me, her light shields lowered their guard, and Finn and the others blasted her to oblivion.

  “This’ll look terrible on my resume!” Spirius-6 groaned. She promptly floated off to nowhere, even as we saw 4 go around the corner.

 The four of us ducked behind the corner, even as a river of paint bombarded us.

  “I’ve got an idea,” Gene explained.

  “What i-i-is it, Gene McGeek?” I asked. Gene glared at me.

  “ _Technos_ , Garmadon, and my plan is to have the smallest person here hide under a shield, which we’ll put on the floor to make it look like we dropped it!”

  “I’ll hide!” Richie volunteered. Nodding, Richie tried his best to hide underneath his ( and Gene’s, since he was still too big) shield.

  “Get ready…” I muttered, as me, Finn, and Gene hid behind the corner.

 Spirius-4 rounded the corner… and instead of shooting at us, shot at Richie from underneath the shields.

  “HE NOTICED HIM!” I screamed, furious at the unfairness of it all. “AGHH!” I randomly threw my shield in frustration, even as Richie screamed and tried to hide underneath the shields.

 Then a miracle happened. Somehow, my shields ricocheted off of the walls, and I heard a clank as the paint ceased.

  “UGH!” Spirius-4 groaned. Before we could even look at each other, the three of us sprang around the corner and fired without mercy.

 Before we knew it, Spirius-4 was covered head-to-toe in paint.

  “Ow…” he grunted.

 I fired at him several more times, just for fun.

  “Hey!”

 Richie suddenly emerged from a mess of paint and shields, somehow unscathed. “Huh,” he muttered. “I guess my cover COVERED me this time! Eh?”

 Finn shook his joke. “Worst joke ever, Dweeb.”

  “That just leaves 2, 3, and 9!” I yelled, firing at Spirius-4 again and again.

  “Well, let’s explore the place,” Richie decided. “We’ve got to get rid of those last three, and we’ll be free to find Frared!”

 We all cheered, and began searching the place. We ended up finding a bunch of dead ends, and none of the last three Spirius-drones were to be found. Finally, our search ended in the one place where we started it all…

  “I can’t BELIEVE IT!” I yelled. I stared at the passage to the left, right next to the chamber. The very passage I hid in with Finn, Brad, Diablo, and Lupus.

  “We could’ve avoided so much pain this ENTIRE time!” Finn growled.

  “Nice going, Genius,” I muttered. “Your idea in the first place.”

  “You would’ve said it anyway, Dweeb!” Finn retorted.

  “Never mind!” Gene said quickly. “All we have to do is continue on…”

 The four of us went down the left passage. Again, we encountered more dead ends, until we finally arrived at the last passage, where around the corner was undoubtedly 2, 3, and 9, protecting Frared.

 We all gestured towards Gene, who shrugged. “Give it our best,” he decided. The rest of us grinned nastily.

  “BOOM!!!!” I screamed, even as the four of us rounded the corner and fired at Spirius-2 and 3, who were all holding a bunch of paint-ball guns and shields in each of their several hands.

 Even as I wondered where 9 was, Gene fell down. “NOOO!!!” he screamed. I whipped around and saw 9, carrying two guns like me in her claws.

  “VENGEANCE!!!” I declared, firing at her.

 “I’M GOING TO GET REVENGE ON YOUR GARMADON, FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!!!!!” Spirius-3 roared, ramming his way through Finn and Richie.

 I ran towards Spirius-3, ready to settle our age-old conflict once and for all… and slipped on a puddle of paint, just like poor, stupid Lupus.

  “ACK!”

 To my surprise and Spirius-3’s, I slid right underneath him. I fired at him from below, but 3 got out of the way.

  “Eat this!” Finn grabbed a shield, and threw it, but not before scratching it with his claws. In hardened and disintegrated into a swarm of flies right before it hit 9, blinding her.

  “ _Je ne peux pas voir!_ ” Spirius-9 shrieked, even as Finn shot her down. Meanwhile, Richie grappled with 2, who was getting closer and closer.

 I ran circles around 3, occasionally going back in the random direction and shooting at 3, fueled by the thrill of the chase. However, Spirius-3 used his shields to protect himself.

 Meanwhile, Finn and Richie were being held to a standstill by Spirius-2. Richie and Finn hid behind the only shield left.

 Then Finn took a gambit. He scratched his shield, and it dissipated and darkened into a bunch of cockroaches even as he threw it onto Spirius-2. 2 shrieked as the terrified cockroaches swarmed all over her body, having no idea what was even going on.

 Finn and Richie unleashed a river of paint on 2. Spirius-3 roared in anger.

  “YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!”

 Spirius-3 attacked with even more fury, and Finn and Richie had to stay back. Even as I ran and dodged crazily, I suddenly had a brilliant idea.

  “ACK!” I made myself fall face-forward on the ground, and secretly rubbed some paint on my chest.

 Spirius-3 stopped, blinking. “I… I did it!” he muttered. “I ACTUALLY DID IT! I BEAT GARMADON! I GOT REVENGE!”

 Even though I had only faked the paint splatter and had barely any health left, Spirius-3 had no idea, and to rub it in, promptly squashed me beneath him.

  “Here I stand on my fallen foe!” Spirius-3 declared triumphantly.

 I shot him in the eye.

  “Ack!” Spirius-3 floated away, trying to register what was happening. I fired at him several more times until he lost all his health.

  “Just kidding,” I snarled, grinning viciously. “I just faked the paint!”

  “CHEATER!” Spirius-3 howled, even as he, 2, and 9 went off who-knows-where. “I’LL GET YOU ONE DAY, GARMADON! EVEN IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO! MARK MY WORDS!!!”

  “YOUR MACARONI SUCKS!” I yelled back.

  “IT’S SPIRIUS-2’S MACARONI!” 3 corrected me. “AND YOU’LL PAY FOR SAYING THAT, TOO!!!”

  “Nice one, Dweeb!” Finn admitted. Richie slapped me on the back. “We should try that trick!”

  “I honestly have to admit that I wonder why I hadn’t thought of it before,” I muttered. “Still, it looks like all of the Spirius drones are down. So that just leaves Frared himself!”

 Gene got up, sighing. “Well, then, it looks like you’ll all have to take down Mr. Frared without me, then,” he admitted begrudgingly.

  “Wait, isn’t there supposed to be a Spirius-10?” Richie asked.

  “SPTHK! SPTHK! SPTHK!”

 We all felt several splatters of paint shoot us from behind.

  “AW, MAN!!!” I yelled. Finn threw down his gun, and Richie sighed. “Of course.”

 We all turned, but this supposed Spirius-10 had already left, all without making a single noise. I couldn’t even sense his presence.

  “Huh.” Finn muttered.

  “Wait a minute,” Richie muttered. “If we were the last ones, and we’re now out… why is Spirius-10 still looking?”

  “Because _I’m_ the last one still standing!”

 We all turned around to see none other than Seamus, standing triumphantly, with a shield he duct-taped to his chest, and another one on his back, wielding two paint-ball guns.

  “NICE!” I praised.

  “Score!” Gene declared.

  “Way to go, Mitus!” Terrence yelled.

  “Go take down Frared!” Finn declared. “For us!”

 Seamus nodded. “I did the same thing you did, Lloyd- I pretended to have been shot down by $ and 8 in the ‘Paint-Bath’. Then, when the coast was clear, I made a run for it!”

  “Quick, before Spirius-10 comes back!” I said. Nodding, Seamus went over to a pair of steel double-doors at the end of the corridor around the corner.

 Since we could do nothing but watch, we followed Seamus and watched as he pressed a button. The doors opened, and Seamus ran in, ready to shoot…

 And promptly hit a trip-wire, causing a giant bucket of paint to pour on his head.

  “NNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” all five of us screamed to the heavens.

  “ _I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!!_ ” Seamus howled, sobbing as he wallowed in a giant puddle of paint.

 We heard a buzzer sound, and Frared’s voice, probably thanks to some intercom, echoed through the halls.

  “Aha! Sorry, Mr. Mitus, but remember when Draik said I would be hiding in a chamber? Well, when I ran up the stairs, I wasn’t going through another hidden passage to my secret room- I was hiding at the top of the stairs the ENTIRE TIME!!!!”

  “ _WHAT!?!?!!?!!!_ ” I screamed. “ _WHAT?!?!!?!_ YOU MEAN ALL THIS TIME WE… WE… AAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!”

 I slammed my head several times into the wall. Finn began stomping around in frustration. Richie tried to break a paint-ball gun to vent his anger, but failed. Gene tugged at his hair, grimacing, and Seamus sobbed.

 After getting past our fit of tantrums, we all made our way back to the chamber where Frared and the other losers were waiting for us.

  “I have to admit, though- you did pretty good!” Frared praised us. “Of course, even if I WAS in that room Mr. Mitus entered, he’d probably have still fallen to the trap, so in the e-”

 The five of us grabbed our guns and fired relentlessly at Frared, smothering him in paint, all while the others cheered us on.

  “BBBBLLLEEEEAAAAAAARRRRRGGHHH!!!!!!”

 


	28. First Pencil Worm, now Leaf Wasp and Twig Snake!

 Later that night, we changed out of our armor, took long, hot showers, changed, and went back into bed.

 I have to admit- despite being completely trolled, it was still satisfying shooting down Frared. And despite having still lost and being totally duped, Finn, Gene, Richie, Seamus, me, and the rest of us agreed it was quite the adventure, and we all actually looked forward to the next Training, hoping it’d be the same, or at least as fun.

 That night, I finally had a dream- and this time, it wasn’t the voices and static.

 Okay, to be exact, it was still sort of static-y, like watching a show with bad connection, but otherwise it was pretty good.

 Spirius-1 was in the clinic with Juriyn, wiping off the last of the paint still on him.

  “And so then 10 told me –albeit reluctantly- how he took down Garmadon and the others!” Spirius-1 chuckled to a giggling Juriyn. “10 left off, since he figured Mitus would get caught in the trap!”

  “Wow,” Juriyn breathed. “Lloyd’s becoming so cool!”

  “Ah, yes, Garmadon is becoming more skilled and cunning,” Spirius-1 said fondly. “If only to better himself and his skills. It satisfies me tonight, though, to see him come so far at so young an age!”

 Then the scene suddenly shifted to Trexdis talking to a sore-looking Frared.

  “And then Garmadon and the others shot me down with paint!” he explained. Trexdis nodded in approval.

  “I have to say, Frared,” she admitted. “They’re making me proud. Lloyd. Finn. Gene. Felix. And the rest. I personally think that this is exactly the thing they need to test their skills.”

  “Yes, I heard my class was the one closest to winning!” he admitted. Frared chuckled rather fondly.

  “Yeah…” Trexdis said, looking out of a window and into the starry night. “This will really prepare them for what comes after this school…”

 I have to admit… at that moment, I was honestly touched by what Trexdis said. No one had ever, well… really expressed such concern, care, and pride about me. No one had come close to caring for me this much, not even Ms. Chafer, who I didn’t even care about at all. But Trexdis, Spirius-1, Juriyn, and my other classmates- they had welcomed me in with open arms. Even Spirius-3 did, and I have to admit, I did ruin it- but nonetheless, I realized this school was the only place that truly accepted me…

 Of course, I’d still burn it to the ground. But my friends would still live, and I’d treat them for their kindness on the day I finally succeeded in where my father left off, in taking over Ninjago with the Serpentine Tribes, who I would free…

 That was when the dream ended, and I sank back into the warm, welcoming darkness.

 

 The rest of November was surprisingly uneventful. It mostly consisted of the same routine every day. Gene would help me get into shape, and I finally got so used to the Ancient Past that my knowledge of it was just a little worse than the average student’s.

 Every day after school, we’d do homework, hang out, eat, talk, and play soccer. One time, the entire class got together, and I’m happy to say my side won. I also fed and took care of George Krumm, who seemed to be the same, though sometimes his skin would feel really bumpy, as if it was getting dryer.

 I also hung out with Juriyn a lot, and explored the school, Brad teaching me about stuff. We visited the other Spirius Drones, including 4 in the energy room, where I first met Nikon, causing me to get all nostalgic.

 Apparently, the Spirius Drones had gotten over their loss at the hands of me, Finn, and the others, except, well… Spirius-3. Also, when I asked Brad about Spirius-10, he explained that the paint-ball game might as well have been the only time he ever revealed himself, other than when he would capture run-away students.

 It was also the last, because we ended up doing more of those paint-ball games, and 10 never reappeared.

 Every Sunday, the Search Gang and I would get together. Finn, as he said, managed to get Arakchos to reveal that she built her body with ‘some help’ (obviously Draik and the others), but that was it.

 Even then, Finn and I, as we both soon noticed, were becoming something of rivals. I guess it started back in the paint-ball game, but we began competing at scores. I honestly wasn’t sure if it was a friendly or non-friendly rivalry- maybe in between.

 Back to the Search Gang meetings, we didn’t really accomplish much beyond that. I managed to get one question out of Trexdis, though it was mostly in passing;

  “Hey, Trexdis, did you ever go to high school?”

  “Yeah. It wasn’t much fun, but it’s better than this place.”

 It wasn’t much, but at least it was something.

 Other than that, the Search Gang pretty much had nothing else to search for, since all we had to was wait for December 8th. One time I asked Spirius-1 if he was made before or after the school started.

  “We were made by Arakchos before she joined, that much I will tell you,” he said cryptically.

 That aside, though, we mostly just hung out. We also, as I mentioned before, did more paint-ball games, and this time Frared was actually hiding in the secret room, whose position changed every time we played. The Spirius Drones also got harder to beat, probably because they didn’t underestimate us as much, and every time we played we never won.

 However, sometimes we’d also do other things, such as Cluedo, Battleship, etc., along with the dreaded tests by Metallicus.

 On November, the Spirius Drones decorated the entire place with Thanksgiving decorations, all of it under ten bucks, so you can imagine what the quality was like. During Thanksgiving dinner, all of the Drones worked together to make a huge feast, and I have to admit I really did enjoy it so much that I forgave the food for the fact that some of it was made by Spirius-3. The teachers also ate as well at their table, the drones delivering refreshments and more food as fast as they could.

 Even more surprising, however, was the fact that no one tried to attack or capture me that day.

 Still, even as I went back to bed that night, I thought about Caila… it was only a handful of days before December 8th, and this time the entire Search Gang would come with me.

 I was nervous, since I wondered if Caila would try to get revenge and explain to the others what happened in November. That, and because I was afraid we’d somehow fail to learn more about Arakchos and Scors.

 To get my priorities straight, I considered what was the worst that could happen. Well, the Dark Lord/David Cross, Samukai, the Mistress, the Golden Man, Kirchonn, the crystal-eyed mummy, Nikon, the Mangel dude Kirchonn mentioned, and the rest of the escapees from the Tower of Tears could arrive and try to capture or destroy me.

 There. Now that I knew what the worst was, I at least had an idea of what to expect.

 

 Finally.

 December 8th.

 The seven of us –me, Felix, Finn, Seamus, Terrence, Lupus, and Buzz- were in line, waiting as Spirius-1 boarded us on, dressed in anything but the school uniform.

  “Anyways, so while it was easy getting Trexdis, Arakchos, and Yelatem to let me go, since Trexdis is nice to all of us, Arakchos probably sees me as some pet, and I’m one of the few who can actually survive at gym,” Finn explained to us. “Scors, Metallicus, and Frared were a lot more reluctant. In fact, it took Felix and a lot of begging to make them let me go.”

  “Ah, yes,” Felix muttered, displeased. “I hated doing that, especially to Metallicus.”

 We finally boarded the bus, where Spirius-1 acknowledged me. Finn and Felix sat in the front, I sat with Terrence behind them, Seamus and Lupus sat behind us, and Buzz sat across me and Terrence, taking up both seats and telling anyone who asked to scram.

  “All aboard!” Spirius-1 declared, and the doors closed as the bus drove down the hill.

 We all began chattering a bunch.

  “I don’t think we’ll learn much, to be honest,” Buzz admitted. “It seems like we don’t really need to know anything else,”

  “Except what happened to Arakchos,” I pointed out. “Like, why is she a cyborg? And did Scors go bankrupt after 3-Bladed Sam’s defeat, or did he simply hang out with Draik just because?”

  “Garmadon has a point,” Felix admitted. Finn grunted, obviously a little jealous I beat him to saying the questions we still needed to answer.

  “Hey, guys,” I muttered. “Speaking of which, I met someone at the town.”

  “Did you give them a wedgie, Dweeb?” Finn asked. My eye twitched at the word, ‘Dweeb’, but I let it pass.

  “Nah. I figure we’re friends now.”

 The others didn’t ask more about Caila. Maybe they just didn’t care, or didn’t want to bother me.

 Finally, as me and Seamus were discussing about how he’d get the latest issue of Star Fare when we arrived, the bus went to a stop.

  “Don’t talk to strangers!” Spirius-1 yelled futilely as the doors opened and we ran out.

  “All right, so where the heck was the library again?” Seamus muttered.

  “I’ll show you. Oh, and hey Garms.”

 We all turned to see Caila waiting for us.

  “Who the heck are you?!” Lupus muttered. Finn suddenly went a bit defensive, just like I did when I first met Caila.

  “We can find it ourselves and- wait, did you just say hi to _Lloyd?!_ ”

  “Yeah, she did,” I said, trying to be casual. “Meet Caila Forrester, that friend I mentioned earlier.”

  “I didn’t know your friend was a girl, since you didn’t say much other than the fact that you were, well, friends,” Seamus admitted.

  “What, are you girlfriend and boyfriend?” Finn sneered. I considered either denying or confirming it.

 Caila, on the other hand, must’ve wanted to get back at me after the last time we met. “Pretty much,” she said casually.

  “Yeah, a thing you should know about Caila- she knows about the Ancient Past.” I added.

 Buzz stared. “How?”

 Caila suddenly acted a bit touchy. “My parents and ancestors remembered, unlike everyone else.”

  “Well, then this should be interesting…” Felix admitted, stroking his chin. He held out his hand. “Well, a pleasure to meet you, Madam Forrester. I am Felix Ramses.”

  “The name’s Seamus Mitus!” Seamus added.

  “Buzz Nirdla.”

  “Lupus Yhtlif.”

  “Terrence Filachi!”

  “….Finn Ayabbers.”

  “So, Seamus, why’d you wear that mask?” Caila asked.

  “To protect myself from brainwashing by evil aliens!” Seamus replied briskly. “I’m the only reason Ninjago can confirm that it’s not in an illusion!”

  “Let me take it off.” Caila reached for Seamus’ mask, and he yelped, cowering behind Finn.

  “Alien spy!” he declared. Suddenly Caila scowled.

  “Chill, will you?!” she muttered. All of us were surprised by her sudden change of behavior, but then she calmed down.

  “So, what’re you guys doing?” she asked us as we walked to the library.

  “We’re tryin’ to find out about the secretary, Vaidd Scors, and our science teacher, Arakchos!” Terrence explained.

  “Vaidd Scors? You mean that lawyer that busted 3-Bladed Sam’s butt out of jail?” Caila asked. We all nodded.

  “Yeah. We just need to find out what happened to him after 3-Bladed Sam’s death, and the same goes for Arakchos,” I explained.

  “Well, this should barely take up anytime.”

  “True…” Felix admitted. “Although I guess we could learn more about our math teacher, a mutant named Frared that was once a professor at New Trek.”

  “What about a Headbook account?” Caila suggested.

  “That’s not even WORTH consi…” I faltered, remembering a memory from my first day of school.

  “Wait a minute… Frared mentioned having a Headbook account! Well, he said he’d put a picture of me on his account, but same difference!”

  “Well, looks like we can finally get that last piece of information about Frared!” Felix said. “Thanks very much, Forrester!”

 Caila shrugged. “No prob.”

 We arrived at the library, and we all set to work. Surrounding a single computer, we went online and searched up about Vaidd Scors.

 There was an online article we found that basically explained everything we knew, although it was a small one, like the ones about obscure people you see on Wikipedia. There wasn’t any image, although it mentioned that Scors supposedly disappeared off of the face of the planet after 3-Bladed Sam’s death.

  “Must’ve realized the authorities found dirt on him,” Caila muttered, sniffing in disdain. “Coward.”

  “Or smart,” I added. “Sam was stuff the N.O.P. got interested in, and a lawyer or not, but you don’t want to have the N.O.P. after you.”

  “Since when did you defend corrupt lawyers, Garmy?” Caila teased.

  “Garmy?!”

  “Say, that’s a great nickname!” Lupus said. “Let’s call Lloyd that from now on, eh, guys?”

  “Sure!” Everyone else said simultaneously, Finn snickering.

 We also found another article on Arakchos, and this time it was a lot more informative.

  “Look at that,” Seamus whistled.

 On the upper right corner was a picture of Melissa Arakchos, back when she could be considered human.

 Arakchos had short, brown hair, with bangs that curved behind her ears. She had diamond-shaped earrings that were black, with green tech-like designs on them. Her glasses had triangular-lens, tinted green. She was tall and slim, and she was wearing a lab coat over a tank top with the same Spirius design and a plaid skirt with green hi-heels. Arakchos wore a vicious smile, although I guess to the ignorant bystander it was a friendly one.

  “Even when she was human, she had that color scheme,” I muttered.

  “She’s hot,” Seamus whistled.

 We all stared at him.

  “What!” Seamus said indignantly. “Don’t act like you don’t think the same… wait… you don’t? Oh…”

 He faltered.

  “Well, it says here that she was born in Tremorstown, Daehran. She had two parents, but they perished in a car crash on the way back from the hospital… oh my… and Melissa somehow was unscathed. Then she lived with her aunt, although they had a ‘distant relationship’ as her aunt said, and then her only other relative, her grandfather, passed during her career.”

  “Ouch.”

  “As we all know, Melissa became a lead androids and robotics expert… and… well then…”

  “What is it, Felix?!” Caila demanded. Apparently, even she was now getting hungry for knowledge, just like we all did.

  “Arakchos was caught doing illegal experimentation, and was disgraced, her scientific license revoked. Later on, she was confirmed to have become a member of the criminal organization, the Techno League,” Felix said.

  “I know the Techno League!” Caila said. “They apparently want Ninjago to focus on science and tech, but when they didn’t get what they wanted, they became an army, and with so much devotion to their research, they have a lot of stuff more hi-tech than we do! Ironically enough, some of Ninjago’s tech was reverse-engineered from Techno League stuff…”

  “Huh. No honor after all, not even in our leaders,” I said bitterly. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “And –get this- she was apparently a high-ranking officer that often made deals with none other than our friend 3-Bladed Sam! She traded him Techno League weaponry, and in return he helped fund the league! And supposedly, she was smashed in the explosion at Yetnas Energy Center, where 3-Bladed Sam was defeated, too! AND… they never found her.”

  “Whoa…” We all gaped, and this time we knew fate wasn’t smiling at us- it was grinning and patting us on the head.

  “Wait, I thought-” I caught myself. If I mentioned how I thought Juriyn mentioned it was an experiment at her house, then I’d be busted.

  “Thought what?” Finn frowned. I shrugged. “Nothing. Just a theory of mine.”

 Still… I guess when she got this all from stuff she heard from random mentions and statements, Juriyn couldn’t have gotten all the facts right.

 That aside, this was the biggest breakthrough for the Search Gang EVER, and I mean ever. We learned the entire history, and it wasn’t mostly irrelevant stuff, or things everyone could assume just by looking, like with Yelatem- this was real dirt.

  “So then… Arakchos was supposedly saved by Draik!” I theorized. “And with his help, she built her new body for herself!”

 Felix slapped his hands together. “Genius! We are ALL geniuses!”

 We all began hi-fiving each other and cheering, until the librarian told us to shut up.

  “Okay, okay, let’s not get too excited,” Felix said slowly, but none of us really cared. “Now we need to search for Mr. Frared’s Headbook account.”

 Nodding, Felix typed in Headbook. At the website, he typed in Jonathan Frared, and this is what we got.

 Apparently, Frared liked to take a lot of pictures. He was a tall, slim middle-aged person, with glasses, and jagged red hair with yellow and orange streaks, just like fire. He apparently liked to wear orange T-shirts with flame designs on them and ties at the same time, and khakis.

  “We’ve DEFINITELY been hitting the mother load this time, guys!” Lupus muttered. And he was right. Last time, all I learned was that Yelatem became a street thug and disappeared, which I didn’t care about at all. Now we were learning pretty much everything about two of our teachers.

  “Apparently he was a New Trek Professor who taught Pyrology,” Felix went on.

  “And he also likes to take selfies,” Buzz added, unimpressed.

  “Here’s him at a dance… and at the Mountain of a Million Steps… celebrating summer…”

 Felix scrolled to the bottom of the page, and pointed.

  “Look at this.”

 I recognized that picture; It was me.

 Frared took it during my first day, when he was so excited that I was the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master. I looked pretty startled, confused, and not very enthusiastic. The description said, “Meet Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon! He’s a very special student!”

 Caila laughed. “Ha! Look at you!”

  “Hey, check the comments!” Finn sneered. Felix scrolled down. Most of them said stuff such as, “Who’s this loser?” or “Special? Looks ordinary to me”, And a lot of other offensive stuff.

  “I can’t believe this!” I snarled. Finn snickered.

  “Feel sorry for ya, Garmy,” Seamus said sympathetically.

  “ _Don’t call me that!_ ”

  “SSSSHHH!!!!” The librarian hissed.

  “Hey, wait…” Felix muttered. “I see photos of myself, and Finn, too! Wonder why he didn’t take a picture of Gene… oh, wait, never mind.”

  “Look at the comments on those!” Lupus said. I read them, and I have to admit, they were just as offensive as the ones about me. Finn’s face turned as red as his hair.

  “It says here that apparently, Jonathan moved to Terris from Daehran to live with his relatives…” Felix explained.

  “As if!” Terrence snorted. “This is probably when he went to Darkley’s!”

  “It looks like your math teacher has a very active online life, even if he’s a criminal mutant at this school,” Caila observed.

  “Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” I sneered. “Yelatem used to be a professional boxer, and then he becomes a street thug and now serves Draik. Arakchos had a promising career, but was disgraced, became a villain, was nearly smashed, and now serves Draik. Scors was once a talented lawyer and a criminal king’s right-hand man, then is forced into hiding by the N.O.P. and now serves Draik. And Frared was a professor at the best college on the planet teaching Pyrology, and now serves Draik. It’s almost funny!”

 Caila glanced at me uncertainly, but then shrugged.

  “Hey, Lupus, did you write it all down?” Seamus asked. Lupus nodded. “Every last word!”

  “Well, it looks like we’ve learned all we can today,” Finn muttered. “I’ll only say it once, but I think it was worth the wait.”

 The eight of us walked out of the library, feeling triumphant and content with what he found out.

  “Hey, Caila,” I said as we enjoyed the chilly weather, the sun obscured by clouds- my favorite kind of weather. “Did I tell you that Finn’s a mutant?”

 Finn scowled. “Did you have to tell the outsider?”

 Caila glared at him. “So, you think I’m one of _those_ people, huh? Those high-and-mighty snobs, who always look down on you?”

 Finn suddenly clenched his fists, but Caila got up-close. “Looked down, just like all of the others? I’ve seen it, and you have no idea how much of I’ve itched to hurt them, just like you, Lloyd, all of the others- looked down on. I may be one of your ‘outsiders’, but don’t even think for a second I’m on their side.”

  “Deep,” Terrence muttered, although Felix seemed thoughtful. I was, too- what Caila said was the complete truth.

 Finn had a pretty scary look on his face, and then he did it- his claws emerged from beneath his nails.

  “Watch it,” he threatened, and I had a feeling even Brad couldn’t stop them from fighting.

  “I’m just like you, Ayabbers…” Caila hissed. “Don’t forget it.”

 I wondered if they were going to fight- but either way, that wasn’t going to happen. As much as I hated Finn at times, I didn’t want to see either fight.

  “We’re on the same side here,” I reminded them, getting between Finn and Caila. “We both have the exact same sob story, so let’s just suck it up and get along, for now… when we grow up, when Draik gets serious, that’s when people will regret what they did to us.”

 Finn and Caila looked at me, and Caila was the first to sigh.

  “Lloyd’s right, Finn,” she said, looking at him. “As he said, we’ve got the same sob story, and it’s not me you should be mad at-”

 Caila gestured to pretty much everyone else around us.

  “-It’s them, so ignorant of our suffering. But it’ll change within time.”

 I glanced around, and to my mild surprise, all of the others actually seemed pretty bitter, too, Felix and Seamus the most.

 Finn glared at Caila for a second- and then his shoulders stopped tensing. “I’ll let you know you’re right,” he admitted, but his claws were still out.

  “My dad’s some guy named the Insect Master. Supposedly, he used to be trapped at the Tower of Tears, but then recently, it got destroyed and now he’s free.”

 Finn frowned. “Honestly, I don’t know if he’s looking for me, doesn’t care, or doesn’t know.”

  “Tower of Tears, huh?” Caila muttered. “My dad knows that place.”

  “How can your dad know that place if it’s the prison for the absolute worst?” Terrence asked. Then Caila’s face fell.

  “Oh…”                                                         

 I looked at Caila, and realized that maybe she was even more like us than we thought.

  “Anyways,” Finn said, as if he knew this too and was already going to her defense. “My dad was a mutant. So, I’m one too.”

 To demonstrate, Finn grabbed a dead leaf and clawed it. I noticed the faintest trace of venom seep into it, and watched as it changed colors, the middle stem swelling and changing until it turned into a giant wasp. The wasp flew off to somewhere, and I honestly don’t care what happened to it afterwards. Maybe it started a new colony of super-sized wasps, I don’t know, and don’t care.

 Caila nodded. “Beautiful.”

 Finn frowned. “Most people think it’s gross or cool.”

  “Funny how people work,” I muttered.

 Caila hesitated. “You know… I’ve got stuff like that, too.”

 We stared. “You don’t mean…” I said slowly.

 Caila gestured towards an alley. The eight of us snuck into the alley.

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Caila sighed. “But you guys I know I can trust- so don’t tell anyone else.”

 She looked at Finn, which kind of irked me. “You would know.”

 Caila bent over and grabbed a random twig. Then, before we knew it, she opened her mouth and bit it.

 Remember how I told you about the vampire teeth she had? Well, I watched as they scraped into the bark, leaving a trail of green, acid-like venom that practically radiated freakishness and evil.

 Caila put it out of her mouth, and we watched, in captivated horror, as the twig slowly began writhe and wriggle, acid-green scales suddenly jutting out in random places. The end of the twig swelled, elongating and splitting in half, revealing microscopic fangs. Beady eyes protruded out of its head, a long, thin snake tail broke through the other end, squirming hideously.

 We all watched as it slithered around in Caila’s palm. “Meet the power of the Fangpyre.”

 Before we could ask more, a voice behind us said, “Well, well, well- so you found new freak friends, freak?”

 That voice… to this day I hate it. Sneering so much, so snobbish and high-and-mighty, calling us all freaks. It reminded me of the voices I heard in the orphanage.

 We all whipped around to see some stupid-looking snob kid with his two snobby friends.

  “Don’t make me hurt you, Thomas,” Caila snarled. She dropped the twig snake, and it slithered off- only for ‘Thomas’ to step on it, grinding his heel. “ _Freak._ ”

 We didn’t even need that much prompting. Finn practically flew into a rage, and punched Thomas so hard it knocked a tooth loose.

 I, similarly, tackled one of his friends, slamming them with my fists. The others and Caila helped us.

 Before we knew it, we heard an adult yelling, “HEY!”

 We all looked up to see an angry-looking adult… and to this day, I hated his face, looking at us with disgust.

 I considered ganging up on him, seeing as how Thomas and his snobby friends were out of action, but Caila didn’t want to see that, for reasons I don’t know. She gestured, and we all ran past the adult. The adult grabbed Lupus by the collar, but Lupus kicked him so hard in the shin that the adult was on the ground, moaning, too.

 Once we were close to the bus, we stopped, panting for breath.

  “SHOULD’VE… GANGED… UP… HIM…” I muttered, wheezing.

 Caila shook her head, looking bitter, sad, and lost. “They would just keep hating me. And anyways, Lupus did a good job kicking him.”

  “Yeah…” I panted. I patted Lupus on the back. “Good Lupus- keep practicing soccer and you could break something!”

 Finn sat on the bench, looking bitter. “Personally, I could’ve taken him on by my own,” he muttered. His claws emerged.

  “Well, you’ve got some pals to help,” Felix reassured him.

 Caila opened one of her fists, revealing the dead snake. “Poor thing…” she whispered, touching it with her finger.

  “I hope you knocked more than one tooth loose,” Seamus muttered.

  “I think I bit someone,” Buzz muttered, spitting in the grass.

  “That was me, Buzz,” Terrence pointed out. “But you did bite those snobs a few times, though! I whacked one with my skateboard!”

 Terrence showed off his skateboard to Caila.

  “Sometimes I wonder if people try to take over the world so guys like them won’t,” I sneered.

  “Caila,” Felix muttered, being serious this time. “You mentioned the power of the Fangpyre… and they’re supposed to be one of the lost Serpentine tribes. How…?”

 Caila looked at us, and I could see the guilt in her eyes. “I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

  “Can you do more?” Seamus asked, trying to lighten the mood.

 Caila hesitated. Then Finn put his hand on her shoulder, which surprised me. “I showed them my powers. They’re not like those idiot snobs who think power makes you a freak.”

 Caila looked at Finn uncertainly, then sighed. “I’ve got the powers of each Serpentine tribe- their venom, abilities, etc.”

 I looked at Caila, trying to wonder- was her parent a serpentine? Now, I know I was mostly guessing, but she mentioned her dad knew the Tower of Tears, which I think implied he used to be there- for all I knew, he could’ve just come back last month! And it would make sense, with all their powers, for at least one Serpentine to be considered worth imprisoning by my stupid uncle. And Wu could’ve done it before the whole Nezkon War, too.

  “Ooh! I heard Anacondrai can turn invisible!” Seamus pointed out. “Can you show us?”

 Caila glared at him. “I’m not a showboat, Mitus,” she grumbled. Still, Caila shrugged, and before we knew it she shimmered out of view, her entire body shimmering, the exact colors of the background, a silver thread as her silhouette, before that vanished, too. Then Caila shimmered back into view.

  “No way!” We all chattered excitedly.

  “Do those snobs know?” Finn asked, concerned. Caila shook her head. “No… but they’ve seen me with my pet snakes.”

  “Honestly, Caila, I wish I had your powers,” I admitted. “Being the Grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master, I kind of, well… feel overshadowed by people like you and Finn.”

 I blinked in surprised. I can’t believe I told both Caila and Finn that. Even Ayabbers seemed startled.

  “What about The Stuff?” Terrence asked. “I saw it all, and it was epic!”

  “The Stuff?” Caila asked me.

  “Hey, personally, I just have my own theory I didn’t make it- I think it was probably an escapee from the Tower of Tears that happened to be caught sneaking across my lunch tray,” I pointed out.

  “I honestly have NO idea what you’re talking about…” Caila grumbled. I waved a hand. “It’s nothing- some guys from this Tower of Tears have been on the loose lately. A ‘Golden Man’, Kirchonn, Nikon…”

  “NIKON?!” All of the others –except Caila- stared at me, having not known the truth about the creep.

 I almost let myself stammer- but in a flash, I kept my cool.

  “My bad,” I muttered nonchalantly, shaking my head. “Slip of tongue. Reminds me of that time I accidentally called some bully at another school Ms. Chafer!” I chuckled at the thought.

  “I once called Yelatem ‘Metallicus’ one day, since I hated both of them so much, and I still do!” Lupus added.

 Finn looked at me suspiciously, but I managed to act casual anyway. “So… what now?” I asked.

  “Ever read Star Fare?” Seamus asked Caila.

 We spent the rest of our time talking to Caila. As it turned out, Caila shared most of our interests. She was pretty cool, too- apparently, her parents made her take several martial arts as a kid, and she was doing pretty well. She also managed to help teach Terrence a trick he had been trying to do for a few weeks.

  “You’ve got to hit the end with your heel, like this,” she told Terrence.

 Eventually, however, it began to get late.

  “Well, you guys should get going,” Caila muttered, looking at the sky. It was going from a cold lavender to a warm orange, transitioning flawlessly.

 “It was a pleasure knowing you, Madam Forrester!” Felix said, shaking her hand.

  “Can’t wait ta see ya again!” Terrence told her, slinging his skateboard across his shoulder.

  “Merry early Christmas!” Seamus yelled. We all said bye to Caila, Finn muttering his quietly. Even as we left, Caila ran up to me and pecked me on the cheek.

 Seamus and the others laughed, and I could feel my entire body going warm and red as Caila left. “Merry Christmas, Garmadon!”

  “Um… yeah… well… uh…” I stammered.

  “Now if only there was mistletoe…” Felix mused as we made our way back to the bus.

  “Shut up, Felix.”

 


	29. The Great Snowball War

 Winter was awesome.

 I had my skepticism about Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys having a winter break, but Brad reassured me there was.

  “Starts on the same day, ends on the same day,” he told me confidently. “And unlike Halloween, there will be no changes!”

 “So we just stay in the school doing nothing for a few weeks?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. If you asked me, doing nothing was a great way to waste your time.

  “Aha, but there’s more…” Brad said, with a twinkle in his eye. “During the entire Winter Break, buses are lined in front of the school, because during these few weeks ANYONE can go visit the town below every day.”

 I stared. “Wait… you’re pulling my leg,” I decided.

 Brad shook his head, grinning. “I mean it- you should see us all, practically conquering the town with our snow forts!”

  “No… that’s too good to be true,” I said firmly.

  “He’s not lying, Lloyd!” Terrence said, catching up with us. “Guess that means you’ll get to see your girlfriend soon, eh?”

 Brad stared, grinning. “Girlfriend, huh?”

  “Just some girl named Caila, although I honestly doubt she means it, with a guy like me,” I said humbly, although I honestly did wonder if Caila meant it… after all, as far as I was concerned, the only guys she knew that were even decent to her were me and my fellow Search Gang buddies.

 Speaking of the Search Gang, the seven of us spread the news about Frared, Arakchos, and Scors. Finn did a good job cracking his knuckles and warning everyone that if they told any of the teachers, he’d get to them before the staff could.

 Our discovery ended up making us pretty popular, too- several of our fellow students kept on patting us on the back, telling us how we did a great job and such. One time we passed by Arakchos, and I looked at her funnily, trying to see her as Melissa, that vicious-looking scientist that used to be revered by criminals and scientists alike.

 The last day of school before Winter Break was pretty fun, too. At math class, we watched Frosty the Snowman, in reading we saw Rudoplh, in Science we were shown Elf, in history Metallicus introduced us to Grandma got run over by a Reindeer, and in gym we did laps.

 By the time it was Saturday, the Spirius drones had already decorated everything with streamers, mistletoe (which everyone made sure to avoid), fake snowflakes, etc. One kid mentioned seeing a giant Christmas tree in the auditorium.

 The Spirius Drones were also taking breaks from their jobs, too. Spirius-$ wandered the hallways, singing “DECK the halls with radiation, falalalala, lalalalaaaa!!!!” Spirius-7 and 8 could also be seen hanging out together, 8 trying to (messily) drink egg nog, and the two acting like total lovebirds in a Christmas special. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, and to my satisfaction Juriyn danced around in the cafeteria, with Spirius-3 rocking to Trans-siberian Carol of the Bells.

  “DUN, DADA DUN, DADA DUN, DADADADADA DUN, DADA DUN!!!!!” he would randomly scream.

  “THIS! IS! WINTER!!!!!!” Spirius-1 would add.

 On the 10th, just two days after meeting Caila again, all of us were already changing into winter clothes, putting on our sweaters, caps, gloves, etc.

  “What’s your favorite part of the holidays?” Diablo asked us as we got ready.

  “I would say the SNOWBALLS!” I declared.

  “Presents!” Richie yelled, cackling greedily.

  “The songs!” Buzz said.

  “I like the food most!” Diablo explained to us. “Mm… gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce!”

 All of us –with the exception of a few kids, who stayed behind for reasons I could not comprehend- were soon gathered outside. Already, it had snowed a few inches in the last two days. All of the teachers, including Draik, were waiting for us.

 Draik was in his human form, wrapped up head-to-toe in sweaters, jackets, scarves, gloves, boots, caps, etc. The same went for all of the teachers, even Arakchos, who wore a giant blanket over her spider-half. The teachers were so covered-up that the only parts of them exposed were their eyes, which they soon covered with goggles.

  “Okay, students!” Draik announced. “Today we shall head downtown! The rules are the exact same, except we can stay longer!”

 We all cheered.

  “Now, try not to fight with the fools below… not too much, anyway!”

 We were all in such a good mood that we chuckled with him. Each of the teachers were driving their own buses, with Draik sorting us into each bus with a special list. Apparently, he planned to assign certain teachers to the right kids, so I wasn’t so surprised when me and all of my friends, Finn and Gene included, were supposed to go on Metallicus’ bus. Honestly, I wasn’t so sure why Gene was there, but I guess he just asked to be with Metallicus.

 Metallicus watched us all board onto his bus. “Now, I expect no jumping out of your seats during the ride. Everything else is permitted.”

 I guess even Metallicus could afford to be a little less strict during the holidays.

 We all got into the seats, chattering excitedly.

  “Okay, guys, here’s the plan,” Brad explained. “Once we arrived, we head out to a special spot I chose carefully! If there are others there, we chase them out! There, we build our snow fort and begin terrorizing the kids from downtown!”

 We all cheered. I relished the idea of meeting up with Caila and burying Thomas and his snobs underneath airborne avalanches.

  “Ah, the joys of winter and the cold,” Metallicus mused to himself during the ride. “So beautiful, is it not, the snowflakes? All unique, with identity, like each and every person in this world… and the snow so such like a white blanket! Of course, by the time we arrive, those fools from downtown will have probably messed it up, and then the students shall as well… pity.”

 I tightened my green scarf around my neck when the bus went to a stop, already at the town. Honestly, I could hardly believe I was already going to meet Caila again so soon- it seemed too good to be true.

 I pinched myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream. And to my satisfaction, it was as real as day.

  “Roam all you like, except outside the town!” Metallicus declared as we flooded out of the bus. “Hurry- the layers of frost beckon for your creations and footprints like a white canvas yearns for paint and art on its surface!”

 I honestly didn’t understand a thing Metallicus was saying, but I didn’t care. The twelve of us stayed near the buses, searching for Caila.

  “So, what’s your girlfriend like?” Richie asked me. I considered denying Caila being my girlfriend, but I figured it was futile and thus a waste of my breath and time.

  “Hey, guys!” We all turned to see Caila coming to us, wearing a jacket, mittens, boots, and typical winter clothing, a midnight-purple scarf around her neck, winding like a snake.

  “So, you’re Lloyd’s ‘special friend’?” Brad asked her. “Well, the name’s Brad Tudabone.”

  “Richie Rich!” Richie declared. “The infamous son of a corrupt billionaire!”

  “Diablo Sanchez!”

  “The name’s Francis Lustein, but they call me Gold Digger, cause I pick my nose.”

  “Gene Technos, at your service!”

 Caila shook friends with everyone she hadn’t met.

  “So, I hear you know all about the Ancient Past?” Gene asked her. Caila shrugged.

  “It’s a long story, and I won’t tell you about it. I’ve also got the powers of the Serpentine tribes, but you should know by now.”

  “Can you show us?” Richie asked.

  “Let’s just get started on our snow fort first,” Brad declared smoothly. “Once we conquer the surrounding forts, Ms. Forrester can show off.”

  “Aha… so, is this the infamous Caila Forrester we hear of?”

 We all stiffened, even Caila. We turned around to see Draik and the teachers, Trexdis, Frared, Metallicus, Yelatem, Scors, and Arakchos.

  “Yeah…” Caila said slowly, eyeing Metallicus.

 Trexdis held out her hand. “Kate Trexdis. Nice to meet you.” When Caila glanced at us uncertainly, we nodded. The teachers began introducing themselves, Arakchos eyeing Caila as if she was a new specimen more fascinating than Finn, which I hated to say was true.

  “Hm. And how one of the many ignorant twits from this town could befriend the hardened members of our school, I wonder…” Metallicus muttered to himself.

  “She’s had similar experiences like us, and it’s none of your business,” I spat back. Metallicus looked at me, but I couldn’t tell what was going on in that helmet of his.

  “We all have the same sob story, evidently.” He said, nearly word-to-word with what I mentioned two days ago.

  “Well, you should go ahead and enjoy this fascinating winter…” Arakchos hissed. Yelatem nodded, slamming his fists together with eager violence.

  “YAH BETTER BEAT SOME KIDS UP WITH THE RAGE OF A BLIZZARD, OR I’LL HURL ONE AT YA!!!!” he roared. We all nodded enthusiastically- that was already on our list.

  “So, I guess he really IS like that, then,” Caila told us as we ran off to Brad’s spot.

  “Oh, you’ve barely scratched the surface of Yelatem,” I reassured her.

 We made our way to a playground built on a patch of land just a little taller than the rest of the ground. It was perfect- the swings, monkey bars, etc., made a wall around one of those little fort-places, with slides and made of plastic. Perfect for building a headquarters.

 Unfortunately, some other kids from this town had already occupied, and it staked a flag of their own there.

  “HEY! I THINK IT’S SOME LOSERS FROM DARKLEY’S!” a voice yelled from the playground, and I realized it belonged to Thomas.

 Caila and my fellow buddies from the Search Gang recognized it, too. “I hate that guy.” Caila muttered, cracking her knuckles.

  “The enemy of my friend is my enemy,” Brad said greasily. He grabbed a pile of snow and formed it into a perfect ball. “Let’s get them.”

 The thirteen of us cheered, making snowballs and charging at the fort. Several of the kids threw chunks of snow at us, but we easily shrugged them off and threw snowballs of our own, nailing most of them easily.

  “THIS! IS! DARKLEY’S!!!!” Seamus declared, hefting a giant snowball. Finn snatched it at him and hurled it at one of the kids on the bars, knocking him down. Most of us easily avoided the attacks of the kids- it looked like the paint-ball training was finally paying off.

 Fueled by the rush of victory, just like in paintball, I crammed several sweets in my mouth and screamed, “BEUBEGLEEEARRRGGGGGHHH!!!!”

 I threw several snowballs, making and tossing as fast as humanly possible. Finn, Francis, and Lupus, being the taller and stronger of us, easily forced their way to the enemy and knocked them aside, giving them wedgies and dunking their heads into the snow. Richie, Seamus, Buzz, and Diablo made several snowballs with ease, giving us ammunition, and I attacked like a berserker, slamming snowballs into the enemy’s faces.

 Caila, Brad, Felix, and the rest threw snowballs with great accuracy, nailing their targets. Terrence used his skateboard as protection, easily making his way further than the rest of us.

 Soon enough, we were all making our way into the center of fort, where some of the kids tried using slingshots and catapults to fire off more snowballs, but we easily dodged them. One hit Buzz, but instead of whimpering, he ran over to the kid who hit him, dunked his finger into the snow, and jammed it in his ear, giving him an ice-willy.

 We made it to the center, where a shrieking Thomas, who I noticed was missing a tooth, tried to hit us with snowballs. Instead, Finn, me, Felix, Gene, and Caila just grabbed in a snowball in each hand and slammed them into his face simultaneously.

  “LOSER!” I cackled. “BAHAHAHA!!! I LIVE WITH THE STRENGTH OF YELATEM AND THE GARMADONS!!!!!”

 Soon enough, Thomas and the other kids ran off, screaming and crying for their mommies. Caila and I made our way to the flag they left behind.

  “The honors are yours,” I told her. Grinning, she tore the flag off, and snapped it in half on her knee.

  “I HEREBY DECLARE THIS AREA OF LAND TO BE UNDER THE POWER OF DARKLEY’S BOARDING SCHOOL FOR BAD BOYS!!!!” Brad howled, and we cheered at the top of our lungs.

  “SUGARRRRR!!!!” I screamed.

  “Quick, let us proceed to work on our clearly superior fort!” Gene exclaimed. He began directing us to build walls of snow here and there, positioning guards.

  “Nice job, Caila,” Brad told the two of us as he helped us build a giant wall made of huge snow piles.

  “No problem, although you guys did a lot better than I expected you to,” Caila admitted.

  “Yeah, well I guess this is the only time I’ll thank Yelatem for his gym lessons,” Brad chuckled.

  “I’m really itching to attack more snow forts!” I chattered crazily. “WOO!”

 Soon enough, we were finished. With built several walls around the base of the playground, much bigger and tougher than the previous ones. Gene placed some of us on more strategic areas. Richie hurried forward as we observed our capital, built around a giant tower of snow we built.

  “The flag!” he declared, brandishing a flag with the Darkley’s symbol on it. We all cheered and watched as Richie stabbed it at the top of the tower, with the help of Finn, me, Caila, and Felix.

 Suddenly, a kid ran forward, who I barely recognized as one of us- he was a fellow kid from our class.

  “I’m a messenger,” he panted, stopping at our walls. “The kids from Yelatem’s class have taken down another one of forts, and the rest of our class is coming!”

 Brad grinned. “Nice!”

 Soon enough, reinforcements arrived, cheering at our work. Making their way into our fort, they working even more on the walls, making entire piles of snowballs and bringing boxes filled with them. Gene helped us fix the catapults and slingshots we stole.

  “These should be useful,” he muttered, a vicious grin on his face.

  “Hey, messenger, go check out the other classes to see how they’re doing, and come back,” Brad ordered him. The messenger boy nodded, and bolted off.

  “Man, this is even MORE awesome than paint-ball with the Spirius Drones!” Seamus squealed.

  “I don’t know about that, Seamus mi compadre!” Diablo chuckled.

 I watched in pride as Gene ordered some kids who brought wooden boxes to stack them into platforms and walls.

  “We shall conquer not only these areas, but the entire town!” Gene cackled, referring to a map he had laid out on a desk someone brought.

  “These guys are way too easy,” I muttered. Lupus nodded, joining us along with Richie. “Richie’s got a trumpet he brought!”

 Richie nodded, taking it out. “Just like they used in the films! If we need backup, we blow into the trumpet and Gondor shall answer our call!”

  “So, these friends of yours are pretty cool,” Caila said as the two of us sat down on a bench some of the others brought over.

  “Yeah,” I agreed, the cold having calmed me down, for now. “They may be rude, mean, dumb, and violent, and they may be juvenile delinquents, but they’re loyal, strong, fast, and we all see each other as brothers. Sure, we might give one a wedgie, or a wet willie, but it’s the same to us as a hi-five or such.”

  “I wish I had friends like yours,” Caila admitted. “Even at home, I’m… well…”

  “I see where you’re coming from,” I told her, a hint of bitterness in my voice. “Back at the orphanage, it felt like the adults were _trying_ to be nice to you, and most of the kids either ignored me or bullied me.”

  “So, what do we do after the other classes finish their forts?” Buzz asked, sitting with us and taking out a sandwich he had stuffed in his pocket, munching on it.

  “We send in an army consisting of some of our best from each class and tear down the other forts!” I explained, grinning nastily. “I can’t wait to shove snow down their-”

  “INCOMING!!!!!”

 We all looked to see the messenger running for his life, before being gunned down by a wave of snowballs. We cried in outrage as we saw several kids from this town arrive, brandishing their slingshots, with wagons filled with snowballs.

  “Shall I call for Gondor?” Richie asked Gene as we ran over to him. Gene shook his head.

  “Let them think they have a chance,” he decided, smiling smugly. “And when the time is ripe, we summon reinforcements, where they shall trap the enemy between our walls and their might!”

  “Like a SANDWICH!” I declared, getting a little crazy for the upcoming battle. “LET’S DO THIS!!!”

  “TO YOUR STATIONS!” Gene declared. We all rushed into place, with me, the thirteen of us and a few others ready to fire from within the main fortress, all wielding a slingshot.

 The wave of snobbish kids began running towards us.

  “STEADY…” Gene yelled.

 The enemy began loading their catapults and slingshots.

  “… FIRE!!!!!!”

 Our class fired our snowballs, raining airborne avalanches at the enemy several of them fell, struggling to make their way to the walls. The slingshots really helped, adding a lot of necessary force to our shots.

 Finally, after taking down a good part of the opposition, the enemy finally made their way to the outer wall. The students there did a good job holding them off, but soon the walls began to slowly teeter, crumble, and collapse.

 I noticed one of the kids yelling at the others. Taking aim, I nailed him in the face, knocking the kid down.

  “HA-HA!” I cackled. “HEADSHOT!!!!”

  “Oh, this is so barbaric, cold, and violent!” Diablo declared. “I love it!”

  “Then wait till you see THIS!!!” Brad declared, pressing a button on a remote he had.

 At the outer walls, several hidden sprinklers activated, spraying water at the enemy. Several kids stumbled and slipped, running away. Soon enough, the enemy ran back, and all of us began cheering.

  “WOOHOO!!!!” I hi-fived Brad several times. “NICE, To-the-Bone!”

  “Gene helped me make them,” Brad explained, grinning triumphantly. “We managed to connect them to some hoses and water pumps we hid at the base of the playground fort!”

 Finn grinned, and for the first time in my –and probably his- life, he looked genuinely happy.

 Gene smirked. “Hmph. And we didn’t even need to call for backup.” He sneered.

  “HEY!”

 We all frowned, turning to see an adult walking towards our fort, looking pretty angry. I wondered if it was the same one from two days ago, but honestly, they all looked the same.

 Before the guys at the outer wall could figure out what to do, the jerk pushed two of them aside, breaking a hole through our wall.

  “HEY!!!” Francis yelled. “BEAT IT!!!”

  “This place is ours, and it doesn’t belong to _you_ kids!” the adult yelled angrily. “Get the heck out of our town, and STAY OUT, Freaks!”

 All of us, Felix, Gene, Me, Caila, and Finn especially, clenched our teeth. The jerk kicked in the second wall, shoving a student. “DON’T MAKE ME-”

 And suddenly, someone grabbed his shoulder.

 To our shock, it was Metallicus and the other teachers.

  “What the…?!” I muttered.

  “Let’s go check it out!” Diablo yelled. Nodding, the thirteen of us ran out of the fortress and down to where the teachers and the jerk were.

  “Let go of me!” the adult yelled, trying to push away Metallicus’ arm. But it stayed.

  “Or else you’d do _what_ to the students?” Metallicus said quietly, in a soft, almost dangerous voice.

  “I’d get them out myself, the freaks!” the adult snarled. “You guys seem like freaks! You must be from that school, huh?!”

 Metallicus suddenly let go of him, and looked at the other teachers.

  “OH,” he said, in mock surprise. “So, this man here –this pompous, high-and-mighty twit- thinks we’re all FREAKS?”

 Yelatem cracked his knuckles. “I’ve been waiting’ for an excuse to smash someone today!” he snarled eagerly. Scors cracked his neck.

  “Man, beating people up has always been a GREAT way to relieve stress!” he chuckled evilly. Frared grinned viciously underneath his scarf. “I hate the cold- it always makes me so cranky, although this guy is making me more cranky than usual!”

 The adult stepped back. “I-If you’re thinking of beating me up, I can call the cops!” he threatened.

 Draik threw back his head laughed. “The cops?! THE COPS?! You think THEY can take us down?!”

  “Is he making a joke, because I’m certainly not laughing,” Trexdis growled. Arakchos stepped forward, causing the man to stumble away from her.

  “My, my, such boldness for so delicate a life form… I sincerely wish to see if it makes him any more… _durable._ ”

  “I… I…” the jerk stammered. Metallicus suddenly went up to him.

  “Or _what?!_ And please, don’t speak- Every time I hear your voice my ears bleed!”

  “So scram!” Scors sneered, shoving the adult so hard he landed on his butt. “And don’t even think about suing us- your best bet is taking us down by force, and, well…”

 Yelatem slammed his fists together, making a threatening noise.

  “…I don’t think that’s your best option,” Scors hissed.

  “Th… This isn’t over!” The adult yelled at us as he ran off. “We’ll never-”

  “OH, NO, MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!” Metallicus screamed in mock horror.

 “PLEASE, you self-righteous, callous nincompoop! You don’t even scare us- we are all but amused by your bumbling attempts!”

 The adult paused, frowning. “…What?”

  “And your IQ makes Yelatem look like a genius, so please go educate yourself in a kindergarten!” Metallicus sneered. With that, some of the students began throwing snowballs at the adult, and he ran off, yelling.

 The thirteen of us stared at Metallicus and the others. “Uh… thanks?” I muttered, kind of awkward. The teachers glanced at us. Suddenly, Metallicus faced Caila.

  “The world is a cruel place, Forrester,” he said cryptically. “But it is also a kind one, too.”

  “In other words, you can count on the kids from Darkley’s,” Trexdis explained. Draik sighed, not really impressed by what Metallicus said. “Well, we should go back and attend to the buses. I don’t want them to ice over.”

  “I’d say that’s just an excuse to leave,” Metallicus mused. “After all, you already placed an enchantment on them to prevent such a problem!”

 Still, the teachers left. We stared for a moment, but then Gene shook his head.

  “Repair the walls!” Gene ordered. The thirteen of us went back to the playground fort, and in a few seconds the damage was gone.

  “So, are our juvenile allies scattered across this town finished with their fortresses of the cold?” Felix asked. Gene nodded. “The messenger had just been ambushed while delivering the news. We are to meet at the town square.”

   “I know this entire town like the back of my hand,” Caila told us. “I can help you guys attack the kids here.”

 Gene smiled. “Yes… that would make sense.” He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Very well then. Lloyd, Finn, Felix, Brad, Richie, Diablo, Seamus, Terrence, Lupus, Buzz, and Francis- If you don’t mind, I’ll be choosing you eleven to help our offensive units take down the enemy forts.”

 I grinned nastily. “No problem!”

  “We were hoping you’d say that!” Francis yelled, and we all agreed. Gene smiled viciously.

  “Perfect,” he hissed.

 

 The twelve of us met at the town square, where a giant Christmas tree had been set up. Snow blanketed the roofs, and icicles hung like jagged fangs.

 The kids from Yelatem’s class were already there, and I had to admit they looked pretty tough, although I guess it shouldn’t have been any surprise.

  “Gene said he wanted me to lead the charge,” Brad told the lead kid from Yelatem’s class.

 The kid shrugged. “Sure. As we long get to smash snowballs into other kids, go ahead.”

 The other classes arrived. The other classes looked pretty generic, although a few from Metallicus’ looked kind of, well… depressing. But I guess listening to Metallicus’ speeches made you like that.

  “All right, Caila, so where would you say the nearest fort is?” Brad asked her. Caila nodded, taking out Gene’s map.

  “I would say here, at this field used for soccer. It’s pretty flat and plain- not well defended, but it gives whoever occupies it more space and freedom to experiment with their fort.

  “So I guess that should be easy. Let’s send in a scout or two, or three,” Brad decided. “Hey, Lloyd, Terrence, and Seamus, you mind checking out the enemy?”

 We all nodded. I stuffed a few twizzlers to give me energy in case I needed to make a run for it.

  “All right. They’re that way,” Caila explained, handing us the map. The three of us nodded.

  “Man, this reminds me so much of how in Star Fare, Kalligan and the others had to scout out the enemy base, only to find out that the Metal Terrors had made a deal with the celestial Dark Spirits!” Seamus giggled, trembling with excitement.

  “I doubt we’re going to find out anything like that,” Terrence pointed out, dragging his skateboard along.

 Mostly staying behind the cover of the snowbanks, we finally got into viewing distance of the enemy fort.

 It was like Caila said- built in the middle of a Soccer Field, the kids built several walls, but it was mostly flat, and it looked hard to navigate through for the owners.

 I smirked. “Just like Caila said,” I chattered.

  “Nothing but a bunch of walls and one pile of snow in the middle,” Terrence muttered. “I see a few catapults, but only a few kids have slingshots. We should be good.” The three of us made our way back to the square, where everyone was waiting for us.

  “What’s the news?” Brad asked us.

  “Mostly just a bunch of walls with a pile of snow in the middle,” Terrence explained. “They’ve only got a handful of slingshots, although they’ve got a few catapults!”

 We all shifted, getting impatient. These guys were obviously easy- some of the kids from Yelatem’s class were already throwing snowballs at each other.

  “Any weak spots?”

  “Near the back, at the very right!” Seamus explained. “We can get there through a small area between buildings- it’ll take a little more time, but I think we’re good!”

 Brad nodded, grinning in eager anticipation. “All right- we’ll place the Yelatem kids at the front and back, to act as shields! Any objections?”

 The Yelatem kids stamped their feet, glad to be the ones closest to the action.

  “All right! Let’s go!”

 We all began making our way through the town, taking a longer but more obscure route. Finally, we arrived at a little area between a few buildings- a bit long, but I could still see the light at the end.

  “Pretty small,” Brad muttered. “I’d say about three kids could go through there at a time.”

 Brad began organizing us into trios before lining us up. I was with Francis and Buzz.

  “Let’s go!”

 As we began shuffling silently through the alley, Richie came up to us with Lupus and Caila.

  “I’ve got a little secret weapon of mine in store,” he told us, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He took out a giant super-soaker gun. “I’ve stored in this several bottles of water- this should melt their walls, easy-peasy!”

  “Nice!” Francis hi-fived him. I shook crazily. “M-man,” I chattered, both from the cold, sugar, and my enthusiasm. “Can’t wait to demolish their forts and send them running! I’m PUMPED!”

 Buzz loaded a snowball in his slingshot, so he could fire it as soon as possible. “I think we should storm our way into the middle as soon as possible. That way, they’ll probably panic seeing all of their walls breached, rather than just take down their entire front wall.”

 We all stared at Buzz, until Lupus patted him on the back. “Nice!”

 Brad made us stop just before the first trio made it out of the tunnel.

  “Okay, guys,” he whispered. “I want us to silently gather around the area, and don’t attack until everyone’s out and ready. But if they spot us, then just go ahead and attack them- and make sure to focus on that weak spot!”

 We all nodded eagerly. Slowly, several of us poured out into the street surrounding the soccer field. The area was pretty flat, so there weren’t any points to look at the surrounding area- those guys had chosen a really bad place to build their fort.

 Once we were all out, Brad beckoned towards us. “I want you to silently advance at their weak spot- they haven’t seen us yet. In fact, try not to make too much noise until it’s clear they’re all aware of us. Then go as crazy as you want.”

 We all nodded, then silently advanced towards the weak spot as quick as possible. Once we there, the Yelatem kids managed to dig out a decent opening in the wall. A few of them went through, and we heard a minor scuffling before they came out with a kid whose mouth was being held shut by a Yelatem kid.

 Brad looked at him, thinking. “Hmm… I think it’d take too much effort to make him stay silent… dunk his head in some snow, and we’ll go out on full offensive and smash through!”

 We nodded silently, and the Yelatem kid dunked the loser’s head into the snow. Then we all began smashing our way through the walls, screaming and catching the enemy by surprised. The kids we encountered fumbled for their snowballs, but Francis jumped onto one of their piles, stamping it flat into a crumbly mess.

 Richie took out his Super-Soaker and blasted several kids, melting down the walls ahead of us. Lupus and Francis, being the tougher of us, managed to smash their way through the walls. I went full berserker, throwing as many snowballs as possible. Buzz had some decent aim, shoot kids who were using slingshots or catapults in the face. Caila managed to easily fend off the few that got close to us.

  “It’s ICE to see you!!!” Richie cackled as we demolished yet another wall, only a few walls to the middle.

  “I feel like I’ve heard that before,” Caila grumbled, dunking a flailing kid’s head into one of the walls.

  “Incoming!” Buzz yelled. A bigger kid began running towards us. Buzz shot a snowball into his face, and the kid struggled to wipe it away. Francis and Lupus tackled him, and Richie blasted him with his super-soaker until he ran off.

  “Nice!” I yelled. “RUN!!!! RUN!!!! I’M COMING FOR YOU ALL!!!!” I cackled with vicious delight, smashing my way through a second snow wall and slamming a clump of snow into two kids’ faces.

 It wasn’t long before we made our way into the middle. I tore off the flag and snapped it in half, with Richie climbing to the top of the pile of snow and shooting water into the air, obviously for no reason than for fun. Meanwhile, several of the kids panicked and ran off. The rest were soon taken down by Buzz’s good aim, a berserk me, and a towering Finn.

 We all cheered as Felix knocked down the snow pile. Brad took out another Darkley’s flag and stabbed it into the ground.

  “M-man, I’m cold!” I shivered as we set to work completely demolishing what was left of the fortress.

 Buzz took out a steaming-hot thermos filled with hot chocolate. “I always come prepared with food!” he said with a grin.

  “Julia Child’s right- People who love to eat ARE always the best people!” Lupus cackled, taking a scathing sip.

  “Urth my thongue tho much, but ith thase thoo gooth!” Francis muttered, the tip of his tongue writhing from the pain of the heat. He was right- the sip I took burned mine so much it felt like my taste buds had been scalded, but the chocolate gave me a warm, cozy feeling I couldn’t resist.

 Once we were done taking down the entire fort, we began to sit down and eat lunch. A few of us stood near the catapults, ready to fight off an ambush.

  “So, how many forts are there left?” I asked Caila. Caila looked at the map, and then grinned. “Just one.”

 Felix came strutting forward, sitting down with us. “So, have you ever done this before?” he asked Caila curiously. Caila shook her head.

  “No, not really,” she admitted, looking a little down as she thought about it. “I mostly just played around, making snow men and stuff like that. Sometimes my dad would come and play with me…”

  “Well, you’ve got us now,” Felix reassured her. “And I can tell you, a Darkley’s kid is the best kind of friend you can have- loyal, hardened, and sympathetic. I could go on, but you already know.”

 Once we were done eating, all of us gathered around Brad.

  “All right,” he explained. “Lloyd, Seamus, and Terrence, we need you to check out the last fortress,” he told us. The three of us nodded.

  “You can count on us!” Terrence said with a grin and wink. Getting on his skateboard, we followed him through the streets, seeking out the last fort.

 It wasn’t long before we found it. It was built on a pretty big hill- great for lookouts, but it made it more tricky to build walls around it. At the very top was another one of those stupid flags the kids from this town made. Behind it was a cluster of tall trees.

 The three of us looked at it from behind a snow bank. “Not bad,” Seamus muttered. “Pretty measly defense, but compensates for how gravity will pull down on intruders climbing up.”

  “They’ve got a bunch of slingshots, too,” I noticed, pointing at a few of the kids.

  “And they’ve made traps of their own,” Terrence added. “Namely, those giant blocks of snow. See how there are planks at the back? Obviously, you just lean on them and the snow tips over, causing a mini-avalanche on the enemy.”

  “It seems pretty evenly done,” Seamus observed. “Hey, guys, do you see any weak spots, like a vacancy of traps, or a certain lack of slingshots…?”

  “Hmm… they’re all walking in circles around their fort, so it stays mostly uneven,” I muttered. “Still, I think with our numbers and equipment we can take them on anyway.”

 Terrence stopped us before we could leave. “Wait, look at the trees!” he whispered. Seamus and I looked at them, unimpressed.

 “Yeah… they’re trees. I get it.” I muttered. Terrence hit me on the head.

  “Ow!”

  “No, dummy, see how there are practically no guards there?”

  “So what you’re saying,” Seamus suggested. “Is that we circle around town and then silently make our way through the trees?”

 Terrence shrugged. “It’ll take time, but I’m sure we can pull up the patience,” he admitted.

 I shrugged, trembling from excitement. “Let’s just go tell the others,” I whispered. The three of us got up and silently began to leave.

 Then we heard a shout from the hill. “ENEMY!”

 Several kids began loading slingshots and shooting at us. Terrence stayed at the back, using his skateboard as a shield. A chunk of snow hit me on the shoulder, but I ignored it.

 We made it back to the soccer field, where we saw a few kids covered in snow running past us.

  “Ambush?” I asked Brad as we got back. He nodded. “Pretty easy to hold off, though.”

  “Their place is on a hill,” Seamus explained to everyone. “It’s got weak walls, but the gravity will work against us, and they have piles of snow as traps- one push and they fall on us. Most of them have slingshots, too.”

  “Any weak spots, or such?” Felix asked. We shook our heads.

  “The guards walk around routinely, so there’s never one weak spot, and if there is, it’ll only last for a few seconds,” Terrence explained. “However, there are some trees behind the hill, and no one’s looking there. I say we circled around the edge of town, sneak through the trees, and attack them from behind!”

 Brad nodded, grinning. “Perfect.”

 The formation was simple- the Yelatem kids would stay around us, forming a protective ring. It reminded me of paint-ball with the Spirius Drones, although THAT was a lot harder, especially with Spirius-3 going out of his way to get revenge on me.

  “Do you think they might have traps in the trees?” I asked the others as we walked. Francis shook his head.

  “Too high,” he said, and I had to admit he had a point- they couldn’t hide in the trees unless they were in an unsafe height.

  “So, what do we do after we send those guys running?” Lupus asked. For a moment, we paused, considering his words.

  “Um… I have no idea,” Caila admitted.

  “Attack each other? Build snowmen?” Felix suggested. We just shrugged.

  “…Let’s just worry with the main problem at hand,” Richie decided. We all agreed in unison.

 Walking around the edge of the town, we finally arrived at the trees, where not a single kid was looking.

 Brad looked at us, making sure we had our slingshots and snowballs ready. Richie had refueled his super-soaker.

  “Ready, guys?” he asked. We all nodded. “Okay. And one more word of advice- advance silently until we get to the top. Once we’re there, we go down the other side of the hill- these bozos and their traps have attacks oriented down the hill, not up.”

 We silently crept through the trees. I looked up, making sure there were no traps. To my surprised, it was trap-free.

 We arrived at the base, where we all began to climb up the side of the hill. Still not a single person had seen us. There, at the top of the hill were a few kids. I didn’t see Thomas, which disappointed me, because I’d have liked to throw a few more snowballs in his face.

 Then one of the kids turned even as the first Yelatem kid reached the top.

  “ENEMIES!”

 All of the kids down below panicked, looking at the streets and expecting us to be there. Before they knew it, we buried the guys at the top with our snowballs.

  “THIS! IS! DARKLEY’S!!!!!!” I howled, grabbing their flag and snapping it in half. The enemy below us panicked and began to try and throw their snowballs at us, but gravity worked against them, just as they had planned, except the roles were reversed.

 Some of us stayed near the top, shooting at the enemy from above. Others, including me, the Yelatem kids, and a few of my friends went down the hill, easily taking down the enemy. Some of us, such as Caila and Terrence, stomped on the snow traps, causing the blocks to teeter over and land on the very ones who made them.

 Richie blasted his super-soaker, cackling, I constantly grabbed snowballs, reloaded, aimed, and fired in less than two seconds in each shot. One kid got close to me, but before I could take him down myself, Buzz ran over, unscrewed his thermos, and splashed scathing hot chocolate on his face.

  “AAAGGHH!!!!” The kid stumbled, tripped, and ran down, stuffing snow into his face. I hi-fived Buzz, deciding he wasn’t such a wimp after all.

 Soon enough, all of the traps had been deployed. We easily knocked down the measly walls, and most of us got so close to the kids with slingshots that they didn’t have time to reload before we dunked their heads in the snow. I watched as Finn caught one kid and gave him a wedgie so painful that even I winced.

 We watched as the rest of the kids retreated. One kid ran past me, and I tripped him. Falling over, the kid crawled the rest of the way.

 We all began to cheer. Felix took out the Darkley’s flag and stabbed it onto the top of the hill, even as we demolished the remnants of the snow fort.

  “VICTORY!!!!!!” I howled, doing a crazy dance. We all went completely wild with triumph, Terrence throwing snowballs at random.

  “HA!” Seamus screamed, facing the skies. “TAKE THAT, ALIENS! DON’T EVEN _THINK_ ABOUT INVADING OUR PLANET!!!”

 For the first time, Caila went up to me and hugged me so hard I lost my breath. Diablo climbed to the top of the hill and played La Cucaracha on the trumpet so loud that it blasted through the streets, signaling our victory.

 Suddenly a chunk of snow blasted me in the face. I fell down, trying to reassess the situation. Several of us gasped, and when I got up, I looked at the source.

 Spirius-8 had fired that snowball. He and the other Spirius Drones –even JURIYN- were there, covered so much in sweaters, mittens, and scarves that they kind of looked like normal people.

  “Did you really think we’d just waste our time staying at the school?” Spirius-$ sneered, loading several snowballs into a special gun probably built by him and the others.

  “I WILL DESTROY YOU GARMADON!!!!” Spirius-3 howled, carrying several snowballs in each of his many hands.

 We looked at Brad, who grinned. “ATTACK!!!!!”  We all grabbed our snowballs and attacked the Spirius Drones, having some of the best times of our lives.

 


	30. Rudolph the Death Metal Reindeer

 After the Spirius Drones seriously kicked our butts and completely took down all of our forts without much trouble (and with only eleven on their side, too!), we all went back to the buses.

  “Hey, guys, meet Juriyn,” I explained as Juriyn slithered forward.

  “Hi, Lloyd!” she said excitedly. Then she looked at Finn and nodded eagerly. “Oh, Hi, Finn!”

 Finn smiled and it was a legitimate, nice one. “Hey, Juriyn!”

  “Wait…” I looked between the two of them. “You guys know each other?!”

 Juriyn nodded. “Remember, Lloyd? I mentioned someone else visited me- Finn!”

 Wow. That was honestly surprising, since I doubted Finn would’ve cared about meeting up with her.

 Then a thought struck me… what if Juriyn had told him about the teachers like she did with me?

 I shook it off. If he knew, he would’ve told everyone else. I doubted he had the cunning or thought to withhold the information and use it for his own use, like I did.

  “Is Juriyn nice?” Caila asked me. I nodded. “Oh, definitely.”

  “You’re not a bad shot yourself, Juriyn,” Finn told her as they talked about the snow ball fight we had with the Spirius Drones.

  “The name’s Caila,” Caila said, coming over to Juriyn. Juriyn nodded excitedly. “Oh, Lloyd’s told me a lot about you!”

 The two of us blushed as some of the others snickered behind their hands. Then, I suddenly felt someone shove me into a snow bank.

  “HA-HA!” Spirius-3 cackled. “I DID IT! I shoved Lloyd Garmadon into a snow bank!”

 I considered pointing out he ambushed me, but then again, I realized he was certainly a lot better than I was, if him and nine others took down our traps and virtually the entire student population on their own.

  “Fine,” I spat, getting up and spitting our chunks of snow. “But this isn’t over, 3!”

 Spirius-3 cackled. “It never will be!”

  “Yeah, Lloyd told me you had a bit of a grudge or whatever,” Caila noted, unimpressed. 3 nodded, floating off to join 2 and 9 in a holiday sing-along. “AND I ALWAYS WILL!!!”

  “Huh. Still, I doubt I could beat him at paintball,” I noted, grinning.

  “So, Juriyn, I heard you hang out with Lloyd, too,” Finn noted, giving me an uncertain glance.

 Juriyn nodded. “Oh, yes! Lloyd’s so nice to me! He said he wanted me to remember who I used to be, and he also would sometimes give me hugs!”

 The others snickered a bit, and I blushed. “Hugs, Lloyd?” Richie asked me.

  “Yeah…” I said slowly, embarrassed. I faced Finn. “So, you know Juriyn? Since when?”

 Finn scowled. “Ever since I came to this school.”

  “Hm.” I glanced at Caila and Juriyn. “Say, want to help me introduce Caila to the other drones?”

 Juriyn nodded enthusiastically, grabbing Caila. “Sure!”

 When Spirius-1 met her, he acted like Juriyn, shaking her hand and going on about how I had always talked about her.

  “If I do say so myself, I think he has a crush on you,” Spirius-1 whispered to Caila conspiratorially. Caila grinned, glancing at me. “I’m well aware.”

  “Yeah…” I said quickly. “Hey, want to meet the cooks!”

 Spirius-2 liked Caila, although 3, typically, was more suspicious since she was a close friend of me, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, his arch nemesis. Spirius-$ tried to show off to Caila, 4 thought she was cool, Spirius-5 was unimpressed, 6 and 7 didn’t really care that much, 8 shook her hand, and 9 did the same.

  “Say, where’s Spirius-10?” I asked the drones.

 9 shrugged. “He’s always off somewhere, doing missions.” $ nodded, not looking very happy at the thought of him. “He’s always bragging about how he’s ‘superior’ in technology, and such! HMPH!”

  “So unsociable, too,” Spirius-6 added. 4 nodded in agreement. “Heck, _I_ barely make contact with anyone, and I’m still fun!”

  “But my jokes are better,” Spirius-8 said, patting 4 on the head.

  “Hey!”

  “I dislike 10 almost as much as I hate you, Garmadon,” Spirius-3 admitted. “Or was it the other way around? 2, can you refresh my memory?”

  “Other way around,” Spirius-2 corrected.

  “I feel the same,” Spirius-5 hissed. “At least join us in our paint-ball games!”

  “Oh, yeah, how many times did we win?” 7 asked. “I honestly can’t remember…”

  “All of the times,” I reassured them, wondering what Spirius-10 could be like. If 3 hated him more than me, he must’ve done even something worse to him than nearly causing his demise!

 Still, with that over, Caila and I went back to hang out with the others. We tried building huge snow men, but the Spirius Drones completely outclasses us by doing one twice as tall as Draik.

  “I can see the school from here!” Spirius-$ gloated from on top of the snow man. “I think I’ll call this guy Frosty!”

 After demolishing the snow man, we played a bit more with the Drones, namely, we got into another snow ball fight that we lost pretty pathetically in, with 4 and 8 demolishing us, and 7 sneaking behind us by digging through the snow. However, the Spirius Drones ended up losing when Yelatem, made a giant boulder of snow and threw it onto them.

  “SISSIES!!!!” he roared, beating his chest like a gorilla. Trexdis grabbed a snowball, tossing it in her hand. “Man, these take me way back…” she muttered. Then Frared threw one at her, and Trexdis, Frared, and Yelatem were stuck in a three-way snowball fight.

 Eventually, however, the day came to an end.

  “Well, then,” Draik said dryly as he looked at the sky. “It appears to be time to board the buses and leave. Please go retrieve anything you may have left behind.”

 Luckily, Gene had ordered the others to grab our stuff we left behind (and the catapults and slingshots we stole), ranging from our boxes we used to carry snowballs to the sprinkler traps.

 As we began to get in line, we all saluted Caila. “See ya tomorrow!” Terrence yelled.

  “Farewell!” Diablo cried. We all waved goodbye to Caila even as we got onto the bus.

  “SEE YA!”

  “HOLD DOWN THE FORT!”

 And so on.

 Caila waved goodbye to us, grinning. Eventually, she disappeared out of view as the buses left.

  “Ah, the joys of childhood acquaintances,” Metallicus mused to himself, purposely out loud. “And the hints to a possible romantic relationship in the future.”

  “Shut up, Metallicus!”

  “That’s an extra homework sheet once Winter Break ends!”

 

 The rest of Winter Break was pretty awesome.

 We spent our days hanging out with Caila, easily demolishing the enemy with ease. One time, when we were attacking a fort, I saw Thomas, but the guy made a break for it before we could attack. I wasn’t sure which one would’ve satisfied me more.

 Sometimes the Spirius Drones would arrive later on to play, sometimes they wouldn’t. We kept on working on our traps every day after combing back to the school. Sometimes, during a cold day of snowball fights, Frared would give us a treat and take us to a restaurant, where he refused to take off his sweaters and scarves, for obvious reasons.

 One time, Frared sat down in front of a fire in a café, staring at it, completely mesmerized.

  “Fire…” he whispered in awe. “So beautiful, is it not?”

  “Uh… yeah…” I said slowly. Honestly, fire did give me that cozy, homey feeling, but the way Frared said it was kind of creepy, like he was obsessed.

_Then again, he DID used to teach Pyrology, so…_ I thought to myself.

 Then, when we were all done, one of the waiters went over to Frared. “Sir, can you please get off of the floor and leave?”

  “No.” Frared said firmly.

  “Um… _Sir_ …” the waiter persisted, a bit awkward.

  “No!”

 It took a while for the staff to convince Frared to leave, and even then they only succeeded when Metallicus came in and told Frared to get off his butt.

 The rest of Winter Break was pretty awesome, even when we came into the school. The Spirius Drones completely decorated the place, and Trans-Siberian Carol of the Bells could be heard around every corner. The drones rocked around in the cafeteria, and we would all do a bunch of Christmasu stuff. Frared constantly played movies in his classroom. One time, he accidentally played a horror movie, but the students there were fine, so he played it anyway.

 Yelatem also, to my surprise, stayed at his gym, teaching kids the brutal strategies of snow-ball fights.

  “TRY SMASHING IT INTO THEIR EARS!” Yelatem roared during one of his lessons I attended. “I GURANTEE YOU IT HURTS A LOT MORE THAN A WET WILLY! AND WORK ON THOSE, TOO!!!!”

 Scors mostly hung around in the cafeteria, drinking way too much egg nog and stuffing himself with food the Spirius Drones made. One time he outright grabbed an electronic guitar and played the entire Carol of the Bells, Trans-Siberian, with Spirius-$, 3, 4, 8, and 9.

  “DUN DADA DUN-DADA DUN-DADADADA DUN DADA DUN!!!!!” he screamed one time when me and Brad went to the cafeteria to snag some Christmas cookies.

  “I swear, these keep getting better every day,” Brad muttered with a mouthful of cookies.

  “I have to admit, Spirius-2 and 3 do a pretty good job at cooking for a bunch of students-” I barely got to finish my sentence before 3 came out of nowhere.

  “AHA!” he admitted, holding a cup of egg nog. I had no idea how he was supposed to drink it. “You admit it!”

 Then 3 went back to do a death metal version of ‘Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer’.

 Metallicus and Trexdis mostly wandered the halls, enjoying the holidays and drinking egg nog. And, very, VERY weirdly enough, Arakchos was dressed up as Santa Claus and sat on a giant chair, asking kids what they’d want for Christmas (whether they wanted to tell her or not).

  “Have a NOT-SO MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!” she cackled. Diablo ran around with a giant pole with mistletoe at the end, trying to get people underneath. Predictably, everyone stayed at least twenty-feet away from him.

 Metallicus and Trexdis also hung out in the library, reading classic Christmas books such as ‘A Christmas Carol’ and alternating between pages.

 It was a great winter break. Heck, even Finn stopped bullying people for a while. We all hung out together as friends, laughing, drinking egg nog, sharing stories and jokes, the usual stuff you do during Christmas.

 Hanging out with Caila was awesome, too. She was great at snow-ball fights, helping us build our forts, and she knew the entire place like the back of her hand. One time, she admitted she wished that she could hang out with us more.

  “It’d be cool if I could stay with you guys at the school,” she said, chuckling. Then she stopped when she saw how serious our faces were.

  “You don’t want to know,” Diablo told her.

  “Trust me- you’re better off not staying at the school,” I said. Caila frowned, but nodded. Obviously, she had seen how ruthless Metallicus could be, ever since that day on December 10th. Still, I hoped Caila wouldn’t have to keep on waiting for a month to meet us after Winter Break ended. I wished there was a way to keep in contact with Caila, since I didn’t have anything like a cellphone.

 George Krumm also began going into what Gene called hibernation. He barely moved at all, instead curling up into a ball. Still, I sprinkled his food at least once a day. I also noticed that his skin seemed to be getting tougher and more ridged- I figured it had something to do with hibernation.

 Winter Break rocked, and to this day I still look back and smile when I think about it. Even the escapees from the Tower of Tears, from the Bug-Eyed Mummy, the Dark Lord, Samukai, the Golden Man, the mistress, Kirchonn, and Mangel must’ve been taking a break and partying, because not a single incident happened at all.

 Well, except for one time, although I’m still not sure if it counts…

 It had been a cold, chilly day, and pretty wet. After beating the kids from the town below AGAIN, with Caila, we built an enormous snowman with the help of the Spirius Drones, and actually decided to keep it there. Saying goodbye to Caila, we went back into the school, changed into our pajamas, took scathing-hot showers, and enjoyed dinner before going back into the dorm.

 There, we played a bunch of boardgames, from Twister, where Francis sprained his arm, to Cluedo, which was pretty awesome (unfortunately, Seamus insisted the culprit was an alien). Eventually, we hung around, watching a Christmas special on a laptop Spirius-9 lent us, drinking egg nog until around midnight, where the special ended.

  “Let’s go to sleep,” Brad yawned. Nodding, me, Brad, Richie, and Francis returned to our beds. Getting into the room, I opened up the box with Krumm inside.

 “Hey, Krumm,” I said. Krumm didn’t respond, although his skin was pretty hard, like a shell, with little bristles. It reminded me of… what was it called? Metamorphosis? Yeah, that stage when bugs got a shell.

  “Well, goodnight, Krumm,” I said, closing the box. “Goodnight, guys.”

  “Goodnight, Lloyd,” Richie, Brad, and Francis said. Nodding, I got back into bed, pulling the covers over, and closing my eyes while Brad turned off the lights.

 It barely took me a minute to fall asleep.

 

 Recently, my dreams had become the exact same- the four voices, all arguing, but now it had toned down so much it was little more than snatches of random words and conversation, and a bunch of flashes of different scenes.

 This time, however, it was different.

 It had an identical setting- completely blackness, with that staticy sound. But instead of the four voices, I heard two.

 One belonged to Caila. And the other, I didn’t recognize.

  “How was your day, Caila?” the unknown voice said. It sounded chaotic, uneven, harsh, but beneath that was a kinder tone.

  “Great, Dad,” Caila said. I stiffened- that guy was her dad? He sounded pretty, well… evil.

  “So, did you take down those foolish children who bullied you again?”

  “Yeah! Lloyd and the other Darkley’s kids were great!”

  “Darkley…”

 The voice said it with a hint of familiarity.

  “Listen… Dad…”

  “Yes, Caila?”

  “I’ve been meaning to tell you… on December 8th, I…”

  “What, Caila? What did you do?”

  “….I told them about my powers.”

  “YOU DID-” Caila’s dad sounded angry, scared, and shocked, all at the same time- as if Caila, the person he tried to shelter from harm, had dived right into it.

 Then he calmed down, sighing. “Caila…”

  “Dad, I know for SURE that I can trust them! They hate the school as much as you do- they’ve been dying to escape one day, and I wish you and the others would help!”

  “I can’t, dear… he’s been quiet recently. We can’t do things without his permission, and Draik is still a factor that needs to be studied more.”

  “You can do it! The powers you guys have… I have…”

  “But we don’t need to. It would be a waste of time and resources. And doing so would give ourselves away! No, Caila… we just need to be patient. In time, I assure you… in time…”

 Then suddenly that voice cut through- that separate voice from my previous dreams, the one who argued with the three identical voices.

  “WHAT… _THIS?!_ ”

 Static seemed to cut through, and suddenly I saw several flashes and scenes as my dream seemed to turn more chaotic, and I felt a headache and that swelling in my guy so bad I nearly screamed.

 More scenes flashed by- our giant snow man, Thomas brushing his teeth, the school, Scors and the Spirius Drones rocking to music, George Krumm sleeping in his box, Trexdis going into bed-

 And then it lingered on one scene- Metallicus standing at a window, looking at the stars. For a moment, the scene lingered. Then Metallicus suddenly stiffened.

  “That presence!” he whispered. Then the three identical voices cut through and the scene began to fade, but too slowly, so I could see Metallicus run off, probably to where Draik was.

  “YOU FOOL!!!!” the voice cut through my dream, and the pain became so unbearable I screamed, even as the dream shattered…

 

  “AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

  “AAAGGGHH!!!”

  “AAAAGGHH!!!”

  “Huh?”

 I suddenly rolled off of my bed and fell on my face, groaning. I barely registered that it was still nighttime.

 The lights turned on, and I looked up to see Francis flipping the switch, looking mostly confused. Richie and Brad, on the other hand, looked freaked out.

  “What the HECK, Garmadon!” Richie groaned. I shook my head.

  “Sorry,” I muttered. “Had a nightmare.”

  “Must’ve been some nightmare, if it made you scream like that,” Brad grumbled. I rubbed my head- I had a splitting headache. Great. Now either I needed to ask Diablo for his tabasco sauce, or I needed Yelatem to give me a gym lesson at night.

  I got up, sweating profusely. Luckily, the ice-cold air of winter helped cool me down. “Sorry about that. Must’ve drunk too much egg nog before sleeping.”

 Francis nodded. “Happens all the time,” he said sympathetically. “I once had a dream where I was a whale that could grow metal wings, and I fought an evil hot dog in space!”

  “Huh.”

 I climbed back into bed. Francis turned off the lights, but I left my covers off- I was still as hot as the sun, and I needed as much cold as I could get. Soon enough, after a few minutes of rattled silence, I finally went back to sleep.

 

 That morning, something strange happened.

 Instead of the teachers, the Spirius Drones and Juriyn were waiting for us, ready to drive the buses. With there being eleven of them and five buses, there were two drones per bus, with the exception of ours, which had Spirius-1, 2, and Juriyn.

 As we got on, I asked the three of them what happened to the teachers.

  “They had important business to attend to,” 1 told me. Spirius-2 nodded. “Yes, they needed to meet a friend of theirs, at least that’s what Draik said… but Draik, being Draik, it’s probably something serious.”

 2 looked at me. “Yes, I won’t deny it- it’s too blindingly obvious.”

  “Maybe it has to do with the Tower of Tears?” Juriyn wondered.

 I told the others what the three of them said during the ride.

  “Makes sense,” Terrence admitted. “Maybe some activity is going on there?”

  “I wonder…” Finn muttered. “If it might have something to do with my dad…”

 Personally, I doubted it. It was clear Metallicus had left because of the ‘presence’ he felt, just like during Halloween.

 I still didn’t get what was going on? Was the presence me? Then again, I didn’t control the dream. Maybe Metallicus feeling the presence during my dream was coincidental, although to tell the truth I had my doubts.

 And what about that conversation with Caila and her dad? Who WAS her dad?! Unsurprisingly enough, he freaked out a bit when he learned Caila told us about her powers, but he mentioned some sort of master, and ‘others’. Caila even said her dad and these others could attack the boarding school, which I doubted.

 Then I wondered- could her dad be part of the N.O.P.? As Metallicus mentioned, they were one of the few people who could attack the place, and Caila’s dad mentioned they didn’t have permission, just like Metallicus said.

 I considered asking Caila about it, but I decided it was too touchy a subject for her. Plus, if she WAS trying to convince her dad and his friends to free us, like she said in my dream, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing…

 Anyway, I told her about how the teachers left when we met once the buses arrived.

  “Weird…” she muttered. “And Spirius-2 said it was probably something important?”

 I nodded. “Yep. The others and I think it might have something to do with the Tower of Tears, but honestly, I have no idea.”

 Still, I shook it off- Draik certainly wouldn’t let any harm come to us, since we were pretty much his pets. So that meant he was probably concerned about the ‘presence’, and was trying to get rid of it, at the very least.

 Hm. I decided to add ‘The Presence’ to my list of potential enemies, since Metallicus viewed it as one.

 I eventually forgot about it while play snow-ball fights. The rest of the day went on perfectly normally, and we eventually went back to the bus and left.

  “Hey, guys, what’s the date?” I asked.

  “December 21st,” Felix said. “4 days until Christmas.”

  “Say, what do we do on Christmas?” I asked.

 Felix shrugged. “Well, we get a bunch of homework passes, candy, that sort of thing. Not actual presents, but at least it’s something.”

  “And hey, homework passes SHOULD be considered presents,” Richie added. “And to you, Lloyd, the same goes with sugar.”

 I nodded in agreement, chewing on a few more twizzlers.

 The school felt strangely empty and quiet without the teachers, so the twelve of us decided to hang out with the Spirius Drones. Each one had their own say about the matter.

  “Obviously it’s something that could destroy the Boarding School, which means it’s either a good guy or a fellow villain,” Spirius-3 mused. “And- wait, why am I telling Garmadon this?!”

  “Probably a friend, because Draik has a lot of friends, if you know what I mean…” Spirius-$ told us.

  “No, we don’t.” We said simultaneously.

  “A new student?” Spirius-4 suggested. “Wait… nah… you’re the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master, and they only sent Trexdis, so it wouldn’t make sense for them all to come at once!”

  “Draik probably needs something,” Spirius-5 grumbled. “If it’s a threat, he could take care of it by waiting for it to arrive at his doorstep first. And Draik doesn’t exactly ‘like’ his friends…”

  “Information, that’s what Scors told me,” Spirius-6 explained.

  “The Tower of Tears? Kirchonn came from there…” Spirius-7 theorized. “…Or maybe Mangel?”

  “Presents?” Spirius-8 mused. “They might be in a particularly grateful mood this year…”

  “The Golden Man? If you read about it, so did Metallicus… maybe they were just waiting for your lessons to halt so they could learn more…” Spirius-9 suggested.

 Back in the dorm, we compared what we heard from the drones.

  “Okay, so Spirius-6 confirmed they needed information,” Felix announced. “It’s clear 8 is wrong about presents. Most of the others said it was either a friend, threat, or something important.”

  “Probably all of them,” Diablo muttered.

  “7 mentioned Mangel,” I said. “And most of them said either a friend, or something needed. So maybe Draik needs something from Mangel?”

  “I wonder if we’ll ever meet Mangel,” Finn muttered. “He sounds like some sort of scientist, with Kirchonn mentioning he could ‘upgrade’ him…”

  “I don’t think so,” I told Finn bluntly. Finn glared at me. “So, as far as I know, Draik needs information from a friend, possibly Mangel,” I summed up.

 The others nodded. “Makes the most sense,” Brad decided.

  “So then what is this information he needs?” Terrence asked.

_Probably about The Presence…_ I thought to myself. _Should I tell…? Nah._

 We began talking about it, Seamus insisting Draik was trying to learn of an upcoming alien invasion. Finally, however, Finn –to my annoyance- suggested Draik needs information from his ‘friend’ about the Tower of Tears and the Golden Man.

  “Nice!” Lupus clapped him on the back.

  “Makes so much sense… yes, Ayabbers, you most likely are correct,” Felix praised. I glared jealously at Finn, but I guess it didn’t matter anyway, since he was wrong- it was clearly about The Presence.

 Still, we went back to bed once it got a bit too late. Saying goodnight to Krumm, Brad, Francis, and Richie, I fell asleep.

 This time, my dream was different.

 It was nothing but pure black. Then I heard a voice.

  “You might want to lay low. They’re coming after you, old friend.”

 Then it ended from there, and I sank back into darkness.

 


	31. The School gets a Christmas Present(?)

 Once I woke up, I began thinking about my dream.

 I wondered if that voice was the ‘friend’ the Spirius Drones mentioned. Maybe Draik’s friend knew about The Presence, and was warning him, and my dream happened to tell me about it, like it showed me the Dark Lord and Samukai back in October.

 If so, then clearly The Presence wasn’t going to appear for a long time, or at least that’s what I hoped…

 The rest of the days, up to December 24th, were entirely uneventful. Nothing happened at all, except the usual. Sometimes, we would meet up with the Spirius Drones and theorize, with 3 clearly doing everything in his power not to attack me.

  “It sounds like it makes sense,” Caila told us when we mentioned my- ahem, _Finn’s_ theory.

  “I read about the Golden Man and that guy, Kirchonn the Invincible,” she explained.

  “Oh, yeah, did you know Kirchonn actually came to the school before the incident at Parrot Bay?” Brad told her. Caila stared, surprised. “What happened?”

  “He was ranting about some guy named Mangel, banging on the barrier like a doofus,” I sneered. “Eventually, Draik must’ve gotten so annoyed he came out and brought him in. Never saw him again, but Kirchonn mentioned needing an upgrade to fight my uncle, Wu Garmadon.”

 Caila stared. “Mangel? Upgrade? WU GARMADON?!”

 I nodded. “Yep. Why so surprised- you know he’s alive.”

 Caila hesitated. “I guess…”

 The rest of the week was perfectly normal, except in the 24th.

 That was when the answer finally came, or began to, anyway.

 

 The twelve of us were playing cluedo, with Seamus insisting the culprit was an alien.

  “The victim died in a locked room! There were no vents, no windows, and the door was locked from the inside! Clearly only an alien would have access to the kind of tech to kill him so mysteriously!”

  “Seamus…” Brad said slowly. “The murderer can only be one of the suspects.”

  “And an alien is one of the suspects!”

  “I MEAN ONE OF THESE LITTLE PICTURES, FOR PETE’S SAKE!!!!”

 Brad held the five suspect cards in front of Seamus’ face. Seamus stared at them for a long time, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

  “Hmm… obviously, you must be missing a card.”

  “SEAMUS YOU STUPID-”

  “Guys!”

 A kid burst into our dorm. I recognized him as a Metallicus kid. “Th-they’re HERE!”

 Before he knew it, we bolted out of the door, Diablo bringing along his Mistletoe stick.

  “Maybe I can make Metallicus and Yelatem kiss each other!” he suggested.

 Several of the students were there, greeting the teachers as they left the elevator. The Spirius Drones were right next to them, and each teacher looked battered, irritated, and exhausted.

  “If I never dream again, it’ll be too soon,” Scors grumbled, three swords slung across his back.

  “Would you like anything, Mr. Scors?” Spirius-6 asked him, floating up to the secretary.

  “Just a decent pillow and blanket,” Scors grumbled. “Oh, and prep up the hot water for my shower.”

  “Yes, Sir!” Spirius-6 floated off.

  “So, how was the trip?” Spirius-1 asked them. Arakchos just grumbled a bit, and Yelatem slammed his fists together.

  “WE SLEPT A LOT!” he roared.

_Okay…_ I thought to myself. _Apparently they didn’t sleep enough._

 Still, the twelve of us went up to Trexdis.

  “Trexdis, what happened?” we asked.

 Trexdis shrugged. “We met a friend of Draik’s,” she told us bluntly.

  “We’ll explain later,” Draik snarled. “For now, return to your quarters.”

  “Obnoxious jerk,” Trexdis grumbled as the teachers split up to their rooms. “Leading us on like that…”

  “Yes, it’s hard to imagine which one is worse- him or Mangel,” Metallicus agreed. Then the teachers disappeared from sight, headed who-knows-where.

  “Did you hear that?” Lupus asked us. “That means it wasn’t Mangel!”

  “And apparently Mangel’s an obnoxious jerk, like Draik’s other friend…” I muttered.

  “Draik mentioned he’d explain things to us- although, knowing him, he probably will only tell us half of the truth, and be all vague and cryptic about it,” Brad pointed out.

  “Well, apparently they’re going to tell us tomorrow morning, kind of like a Christmas Present,” I noticed.

 Gene smirked. “Ah, yes- knowledge IS indeed a present to behold…”

 Still, we went back to the dorm, saying good night, and went into our beds. Even as I went to sleep, I was wondering who this friend was, and Trexdis mentioned him ‘leading them on’ and such.

 So, I guess that meant the friend in question must’ve promised to give them information, like Spirius-6 said, but then apparently lied…

 I was thinking way too much about it. Shrugging, I closed my eyes, yawned, and went to sleep.

 

  “RRRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!”

 We all woke up, startled, and annoyed.

  “The school bell? That’s not supposed to ring at all until Winter Break’s over!” Richie grumbled.

 Brad checked the clock. “Nine ‘o clock. Well, at least we could sleep in.”

  “They must be telling us about the trip!” Francis theorized. I nodded. “Huh. I’m surprised they would actually wake us up- I assumed they would just explain it all to whoever was awake at around six –no one else- and then go back to sleep.”

 Brad got out of bed, finally remembering what day it was. “Well, whatever! It’s Christmas, guys!”

 I stopped, blinking for a second. Brad was right- it WAS Christmas.

 I expected to open the door and see a Christmas tree with homework passes and candy underneath.

 Instead, I saw Finn shoving a kid’s face into his armpit. “Merry Christmas, Dweeb!” he cackled.

 I closed the door.

 Once we were all done changing and doing our morning hygiene, Richie took out a giant bag filled with, well… stuff.

  “Ho, ho, ho!” Richie declared. “Since it’s Christmas, and since you guys have helped pay me so generously this past year, in return for all your needed items, I shall give each of you a present!”

 I snorted. “They must be terrible ones.”

 Interestingly enough, they weren’t THAT bad… Felix got a new shirt, which he squealed about. Terrence got new wheels for his skateboard. Lupus was given a spring-loaded, cheap toy gun where you shot a piece of plastic with rubber at the end. Seamus got the latest edition of Star Fare, and in mint condition. Brad was given a hand buzzer. Diablo got a toy Illuma-Sword. Gene got new glasses. Finn was given hair gel (probably as a joke, because his hair was all jagged like flames). Buzz was given a pogo-stick. Francis was given a boomerang.

 And me? Richie so generously gave me an XXXXXXXXXXL Super-Nougat Cocoa Marshmallow bar with Xtra Caramel and Coconut, just like from Halloween.

  “Thanks, Richie,” I muttered, genuinely surprised. Judging by the others’ reactions, this was the first time he did something like this, or at least the first time he gave us decent presents.

  “Consider it a token of my appreciation for the good business,” Richie said with a wink, handing out more stuff to the other kids in our class. Brad stared at his hand buzzer for a moment, then tossed it over his shoulder. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” he muttered.

 

 At the cafeteria, the Spirius Drones had prepared an enormous Christmas feast of the best food on the planet, most of it having plenty of sugar.

 All of the drones were there, 1-9 (and $), along with none other than Juriyn, all wearing Santa hats. Even the teachers seemed a little festive- to be exact, Trexdis was wearing a santa hat, too, and pajamas. Scors was wearing flannel pajamas and Rudolph slippers, his mask on. As I noticed, he had a BUNCH of scars all over his body. Frared wore reindeer antlers, Yelatem had a giant, glowing red Rudolph nose duct-taped over his face, Arakchos was wearing her santa costume, and Metallicus was wearing a giant Santa bathrobe over his armor.

 The only one not wearing anything special, predictably, was Draik- until he transformed into Santa Claus.

  “Look at that,” Brad observed, staring at Jolly Old St. Draik.  I trembled from way too much sugar. “HOHOHOHO!!!!!”

 “So, Richie, did ya give ‘em the gifts like ya said ya would?” Spirius-$ asked, carrying a giant turkey on his single arm. Richie nodded smugly. “Sure did!”

 I was a bit confused by what $ said, but I ignored it. Suddenly, Juriyn came up to us, giggling with delight.

  “Merry Christmas, everyone!” she declared. “Hugs!” Juriyn hugged us all with her several arms so tightly I actually lost a bit of my breath.

  “ACK! LET GO!” I chattered crazily, flailing around from sugar. Juriyn let go of us.

  “Sorry, Lloyd,” she said sheepishly, watching me tremble from a case of too much sugar.

  “Don’t worry,” Finn reassured her, glaring at me. Juriyn handed Francis a box of tissues. “Here you go! I realized you probably needed more!”

  “Thanks!” Francis blew his nose into one of the tissues.

 Finally, after about an hour of stuffing myself with way too much sugar and messing around, Draik got up, still looking like St. Nick.

  “HO HO HO!!!” he declared. “Not so-Merry Christmas, to all you children! Ah, isn’t the smell of egg nog and turkey so delightful? But now, we head to the auditorium, where we shall celebrate Christmas –namely candy and homework passes, which is the kind of thing you adore- and learn about what happened during our trip!”

 We all chattered excitedly- we had been impatient to find out about what Draik and the others did those three days.

 Draik and the other teachers led us out of the cafeteria, and even Juriyn and the Spirius Drones followed.

 We entered the auditorium, getting into our seats. In the middle of the stage was an ENORMOUS Christmas Tree, towering so high that it touched the ceiling. It took up so much of the stage that there wasn’t very much room to navigate around. The star at the top shined painfully bright, like the sun. All sorts of dazzling lights and ornaments decorated the place, from colors I didn’t even know could exist like Neon Black to Turquoise-Lavender, and ancient, ornate axes made of gold dotted the tree.

 The leaves were a dark green, smelling fresh and spreading the scent of pinecones everywhere. The wood was dark and smooth, refurbished.

 Draik and the teachers, accompanied by Juriyn and the Spirius Drones, were all gathered in front of the tree.

  “NOT SO-MERRY CHRISTMAS MORNING!” Draik announced (again). “Today we celebrate by giving you your gifts, yes- but AFTER we explain to you what happened during our trip!”

 We all trembled with excitement. I was wondering when Draik would get on with it- I hated it when they used unnecessary suspense like that.

  “You see, I needed to go visit an old friend of mine,” Draik explained. “I needed something from him- but instead, he needed a favor from me! And so, instead of getting what we were planning to gain… we got…”

 Draik gestured behind him.

  “A NEW STUDENT!!!!!!!”

 We all booed. This wasn’t what we expected.

 But then we went silent, stopping, because Draik moved out of the way, revealing the new student.

 The first thing I noticed about the new student;

 It was a girl.

 


	32. The New Student

 We all stared.

 Come to think of it, I always wondered why this place was called Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad BOYS. I mean, why only boys? Was Darkley sexist or something?

 Well, clearly Draik had just realized the benefits of including all kinds of people as part of his future army, because here it was, behind him. A girl.

 She was about our age, but pretty small, like Diablo and Seamus. She had jagged, stark-white hair, the color of freshly-fallen snow. She had wide eyes, a brilliant green. She had a small face, and an even smaller mouth, and her Darkley’s sweater was a bit too big for her, the sleeves reaching all the way to her knuckles.

 The new girl put her hands over her mouth, looking extremely shy, awkward, and having no idea what to do. She looked almost terrified, as if she was about to bolt right behind Draik.

_Not very impressive…_ I noted. _I swear that when I arrived, I wasn’t this shy!_

 Still, I felt a bit sorry for her. Draik smiled at the girl.

  “This is T!” he announced. “Small name, yes, but an interesting parent! As you may know, she is the FIRST girl to ever come to this school as a student! Why, you may ask, did Darkley make this school for boys? Simple- if he had both genders, they might grow up together and fall in love, and love makes people stupid, foolish, and irrational. That, and because he could relate to males more easily, so manipulating them would be easier!”

  “Plus, he had MANY troubles with women during his life,” Metallicus mused, trying not to laugh.

  “Huh.” Richie muttered. “So that’s why.”

 I frowned, not exactly impressed by Draik -Or rather, _Darkley's_ \- explanation, to say the least.

 Draik looked at T. “Go ahead, T!” he gestured towards us. “Say hello!”

 T looked at Draik for a second, in his disguise. Then, slowly, she said, “…Santa?”

 All of us burst into laughter, even a few of the teachers. For a moment, Draik went red in the face, and then he promptly shapeshifted into his ordinary human form, this time wearing Santa pajamas.

  “Draik, dear.”

 T looked at us, knees trembling. “Um…. Hi?”

  “Say hello to T, please!” Draik said, although the look in his eyes made it clear he wasn’t asking.

  “Hi, T!” we all yelled unaminously. For a moment, T just stood there, hands over her mouth, knees knocking and looking way too shy. Then Trexdis, and to my shock, Metallicus, went over to T and put their hands on her shoulder.

  “Why don’t you tell us where you’re from, T?” Trexdis asked. T paused for a minute, thinking.

  “A dream.”

 We all laughed- then Metallicus gave us the scariest look I had ever seen to that point, more scary than the one the crystal-eyed mummy gave me.

 We shut up.

  “Why don’t you say a few things about your life?” Metallicus asked T. “Any friends, or such? Hmm?”

 T hesitated. “Umm… it was lonely.”

 I felt like I could relate- that was certainly one word that described all of our sob stories.

  “Anything to say about this school?” Trexdis asked her. T thought for a moment, then said, “It’s strange. But the decorations are cool.”

  “Yes, the Spirius Drones worked hard on them,” Metallicus said. Spirius-$ huffed his chest out in pride. “We sure did, Kid! By the way, you might want to watch out for the mistletoe, if I were you!”

  “When’s your birthday, T?” Metallicus asked her.

  “February 3rd.”

  “Ah, yes, the month of love…” Metallicus muttered. “Hmm! Remind me, Draik, who shall be T’s homeroom teacher?”

 Draik nodded, smiling viciously. “Ah, yes- T shall be in Jonathan Frared’s homeroom!”

  “That’s me!” Frared added, grinning.

 The rest of the class and I clapped awkwardly. We weren’t sure if we were supposed to show enthusiasm, be quiet, or complain, with Metallicus staring at us like a hawk, or Spirius-3.

  “Yes, T has a very special parent, much like a few of you…”

 I swore that, when he said this, his eyes glanced over at me, Finn, Felix, and Gene.

_That’s weird…_ I thought to myself. However, I didn’t think much of it.

  “But before we enjoy Christmas morning, let us recite the pledge to our ruthless founder, the almighty sorcerer Darkley!”

 Every single one of us, from Lupus to Spirius-4, put our hands over our hearts- except T, who was confused for a moment, until Metallicus instructed her to.

 “Let us begin!” Draik declared.

 

_“I pledge my allegiance and loyalty,_

_To his all-powerful sorcerer Darkley,_

_And vow to keep his legacy immortal,_

_Pass his reign to our descendants,_

_And, finally, force his great nemesis,_

_His slayer,_

_To continue his duty forever”_

 

 T, like I did on my first day, struggled to keep up with our words. Finally, when we finished, Draik smiled, finally transforming back into his bat form.

  “Well, let us celebrate Christmas Morning!” he announced. “And afterwards, we shall return to the buses at noon, to celebrate in the town below!”

 Draik flapped his wings, flying into the shadows (or what was left of the shadows) of the ceiling above. Metallicus and Trexdis leaned over to T and said something, before Metallicus handed her a small, wrapped-up box with a ribbon on it. Probably her Christmas present, although it was a bit bigger.

Then the two of them led T, both of them holding one of her hands, and brought her over to where we sat.

 Brad got up, and we followed him as met up with the three of them.

  “Introduce T to the school,” Trexdis told us. “Try to make her feel at home, and answer her questions.”

 We nodded. Metallicus, on the other hand, was a lot less nice with his request.

  “Make T happy, or I promise you pain without end.” He growled.

 The two of them left, saying goodbye to T. For a moment, she stared at us, shyly covering her mouth.

 Then Brad spoke up, grinning charismatically. “Hey there, T,” he said. “The name’s Tudabone- Brad Tudabone. You can sort of call me the face of the class. I like to pull off a good prank or two."

 Finn stepped forward- clearly, this was routine for whenever they had new students. “Meet Finn Ayabbers,” Brad explained. “They call him the top bully of the school, which is no stretch. He’s the mutant son of an evil genius known as the Insect Master, and like his daddy, he can turn things into bugs- dead stuff, to be exact.”

 To demonstrate, Finn picked up a dead leaf and out came his claws. T watched, wide-eyed, as he scraped it with his claws, and as it turned into a moth that fluttered out of his hand and to who-knows-where.

  “The name’s Finn. I hope you’ll be ready for this school.” Finn said with a nasty grin, although I wondered if he was trying to scare her. Maybe, maybe not.

 Then came Felix. “This is Felix Ramses. He’s got a bit of a flair for fashion and big words, so get used to it,” Brad explained.

  “Your hair is stark, like the canvas kept pure surrounded by its many siblings, of whom are arts and masterpieces,” Felix said.

 I came up, trembling from too much sugar during breakfast. Not the way I expected to be like when a new student arrived.

  “Meet Lloyd Garmadon,” Brad went on. “Grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master, who made this continent you stand on. His dad tried to take over Ninjago a long time ago. Lloyd’s got a bit of a thing for candy, sugar, and craziness, so if he begins running around in circles, don’t be too surprised.”

  “H-H-HEY THERE!!!” I stuttered, shaking T’s hand so crazily she nearly tripped and fell. “SWEETS!”

  “Here comes Gene Technos,” Brad continued on. “Teacher’s pet, school nerd, smartest student, all of these titles apply perfectly to him!”

 Gene smiled smugly. “Why, hello there, T,” Gene said. “I hope I can lead you on the path to a powerful academic future!”

 Up came Diablo.

  “Diablo Sanchez is one spicy fellow,” Brad introduced. “He can withstand the heat of a Ghost Chili Pepper and likes to take hot showers in summer!”

  “This winter can _never_ affect me!” Diablo bragged with a playful grin.

  “Francis Lustein the Gold-Digger,” Brad told T. “Is so-called this due to his tendency, to, well…”

 Francis was already picking his nose. “Hello!”

 Richie came up after Francis. “I need no introduction from Brad,” he boasted before Brad could speak. “I’m our number one when it comes to economy and riches! If you need anything, just hand me some homework passes, a few sweets, and I can get you a pogo stick, a football, or Lava Lamp!”

 Then there was Terrence. “Terrence Filachi is never seen without his skateboard, his one and only true life!” Terrence dropped his skateboard and used his foot to flip it back into his hand, grinning triumphantly. “I have feet, but I prefer to move using wheels,” he explained.

 Seamus was after him.

  “Meet Seamus Mitus,” Brad explained to T. “Seamus has an obsession with sci-fi and aliens, and thinks everyone is one. Why does he wear the mask? To ‘block alien mindwaves’. What does he look like without it? No idea. Oh, and NEVER touch his comics without permission or non-contaminant gloves.”

 Seamus looked at her shyly. “You’re… not an alien, are you?”

 Terrence, me, Richie, and Finn chuckled, but T looked at him wide-eyed and shook her head. “No.”

  “Buzz Nirdla is a big kid who can eat,” Brad declared. “An Unmovable Object, he’s got an expert taste!” Buzz huffed his chest (and his stomach) out in pride. “Nice to meet you, T!”

 T nodded. “Hi.”

 Lupus was up next.

  “Lupus Yhtlif is an individual with bad hygiene, since he doesn’t care to waste his time with it,” Brad continued. “Lupus can be a little hard to touch, so he makes a great bodyguard, and he’s got a bit more than the average muscle!”

 Lupus burped.

 Brad introduced T to the rest of the kids, from Kyle Germa to the messenger we used in the snow-ball fights. When he was done, he grabbed T’s shoulder and brought her over to us.

  “These guys may be a motley crew,” he admitted, and he was right. A mutant bully, a hyperactive kid, a weirdo obsessed with fashion and Shakespeare, a prankster, a teacher’s pet, a nose-picker, a student with terrible hygiene, a greedy child, an alien conspiracist, a literally hot dude, a fatso, a juvenile delinquent armed with a spray can and skateboard, and much, much more weren’t the most impressive.

  “…HOWEVER,” Brad went on. “We’re all jerks, but we have a heart of gold. We’re losers, but we treat each other with utmost respect. We’re juvenile delinquents, but we stick for each other like family.”

 T raised her hand. “So are you all my brothers?”

 We all chuckled, and Brad shrugged. “I guess! But anyway, we’ve all got the same sob story, and we’re closer than anything. Even the kid who got a wedgie from Finn will rally the army if a monster is after our top-bully!”

  “Wait, seriously?” a random shrimp piped up.

  “So you can count on us for a shoulder to cry on, a bed to sleep in, a joke to share with, a homework answer to look off of, a toy to borrow, and a game to play! T, from now on, you’re one of us!”

 We all cheered in unison, and T’s hands lowered from her mouth just a little bit- I swore she smiled a little bit.

  “H-h-how come you never told ME this when I came? SUGAR!” I asked Brad as we walked to the dorm.

 Brad shrugged. “I made it just now,” he explained. I stared, one of my eyes twitching, and skeptical. “R-really?”

 Brad nodded, grinning. “It just came to me.”

 We arrived at the dorm. “This is the dormitory of Frared’s homeroom class,” he explained. “Here, we sleep, hang out, play, all the good stuff!”

 T looked up at the golden plaque that said ‘Frared’, with seven golden triangular rocks carved around it. “What are those rock things?” she asked, pointing at them.

 Brad frowned. “Honestly… I have no idea. Guys?”

 We all shrugged, even Gene, although he looked at it intensely. “Hmm… I think I might be able to recognize it… perhaps I should consult Metallicus.”

 Brad brought her in, where T took in her surroundings. “Behold, the lair of the kids from Frared!”

 T looked around- we did, too. When I first arrived, golden letters with my name had appeared on the door leading into Brad, Francis, and Richie’s door.

 Sure enough, on Seamus, Buzz, and Terrence’s door, just beneath their names, was the letter T.

  “Well, looks like you’re gonna hang out with us!” Terrence declared, and we all cheered.

  “Terrence is a good guy- but I don’t really need to tell you that,” Brad explained.

  “Now, as part of the rules about living with me,” Seamus told T. “Never, EVER touch my cases holding my comics, or even BREATHE on them!”

  “Say, let’s unwrap the present of yours Metallicus and Trexdis gave you!” Buzz suggested. We all crowded around T as she tore off the wrapping curiously, opened the white box beneath, and took out a giant pillow, colored green with white polka-dots. T actually fully smiled and hugged it.

  “I really like it,” she decided. We all shrugged- we weren’t sure what was so special about a pillow, although it DID look pretty fluffy…

  “Let’s bring it inside, kay?” Terrence said, and he, Seamus, and Buzz led T into their room. The rest of us began to disperse, going back to whatever we were doing and changing into winter clothes.

  “MAN, this makes me feel EXTREMELY nostalgic, like, with totals of NOSTALGIA!!!” I chattered crazily. Brad nodded. “Reminds me of the day you came… I had to admit, for a new kid, you were pretty bright and adjusted well. The last new student before you nearly had a mental breakdown from all the stuff that happened.

  “Ah, WIMP!” I sneered. “Anyways, I need to go calm myself down. I’ll go, I don’t know, dunk my head into some cold water or something.”

 After doing that in the bathroom (which helped a little), I went back into my room, shoved myself into my sweater, coat, scarf, mittens, and boots, and came out into the dorm with several of the others.

 When I came out, my friends were waiting for me, and, once again, Metallicus and Trexdis had seemingly come from out of nowhere, helping T put on her winter clothing.

  “Ah, hello, Garmadon,” Metallicus sneered. “I see you’ve calmed down from your sugar-fed berserker ritual?”

  “Shut up, Metallicus,” I growled.

  “Is it too tight?” Trexdis asked T. T shook her head.

  “All right- we’ll meet you at the buses, okay?” Trexdis told her. She and Metallicus left, with Metallicus giving me a scathing look.

  “I wonder why he hates me so much?” I muttered to myself. Brad shrugged. “Maybe he never liked the idea of Wu and Lee- a duo of goody-two shoes parading around, sending anyone to the Tower of Tears. True, Lee turned evil EVENTUALLY, but our dads and families didn’t have anyone like Wu.”

 I snorted. “Don’t compare me to that loser. I don’t know him, but personally, I’d be willing to work together with Kirchonn and the Golden Man –heck, even METALLICUS- if I had the chance to get rid of Wu once and for all.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to wait and work for that chance for a LONG time,” Brad decided.

 At the buses, T was apparently going to be on the same bus as we were- probably since Metallicus seemed to be going out of his way to help her.

 I wondered why- was it because she was the most innocent thing to have ever come to this school? The ONLY innocent thing? Or maybe she was so naïve, maybe because T was a girl in a school filled with boys, or all of the above.

 Still, he was kind of babying her… which was a pretty bad thing if she was meant to grow up into an evil villain, tyrant, of psychopath.

 In fact…

  “Hey, Brad,” I whispered to him, once I knew T and Metallicus were too far away to hear us. “Do you think we should give T an old-fashioned initiation to this school?”

 Brad thought about that. “Maybe? On the other hand… T’s quite the innocent thing, and innocence is pretty fragile, hard to come by, and once it’s gone it’s gone. Maybe we should keep her as some moral compass, to remind us what’s right or wrong?”

  “So we can make sure we’re doing bad things only?” I chuckled. Brad shrugged.

 The buses finally went to a halt, and we flooded out of the doors. “Let’s keep an eye on T,” Finn said, suddenly catching up to us. “She’s, well…”

  “As fragile as a piece of paper? I had the same idea,” I replied nonchalantly, not too concerned. Finn, on the other hand…

 Felix and Gene apparently had the same idea. “I’ll go help the others take out our slingshots and traps,” Brad told me, leaving. Nodding, I met up with Gene and Felix with Finn.

  “So, T, we’re here to keep an eye on you,” I replied casually. Finn lowered, so he was eye-to-eye with T.

  “Listen, T, I promise you we’ll keep you safe from those snobs out there in the town,” he reassured her.

 T frowned. “Safe? Do monsters live here?”

  “If you mean moral monsters, then yes, certainly!” Felix agreed. Gene pushed his glasses up his nose.

  “Perhaps you should stay behind,” he suggested. “Our snow-ball fights can be, well… barbaric for people of our age.”

  “Bloody?” T asked. We all frowned.

  “Um… no.”

  “So… how is it barbaric?” she inquired.

  “There’s a lot of pain and ambushing,” I said bluntly.

  “Do you torture people?”

 We stared.

 Before we could even wonder what exactly T’s idea of ‘barbaric’ was, Caila came up to us.

  “Hey, guys!” she said. We all nodded towards her. “Hey, Caila!” I replied. “We just got a new student here today- the first girl in this boarding school –not counting staff members-, T!”

 Caila frowned. “T? Like, is that a nickname, or what?”

  “That’s it. No last name, just T, as in the letter.” I explained. Caila walked over to T, lowering herself.

  “Hey there, T!” Caila said, shaking her hand. “The name’s Caila Forrester. I’m a good friend of Lloyd and the others, but I don’t go to this school.”

 Caila looked behind her. “Now, beyond us, are some kids who live here. They’re not at all like us- they’re cruel, act all high-and-mighty, bully and torment us, call us all freaks. They’re some of the worst people, so-”

  “My daddy knows people who like to eat others,” T interrupted. “Or burn them. Or drown them. Rip their souls apart. I’ve seen it. Do the people here like to do this?”

 We all stared at her, incredulous.

  “What.” I spat out bluntly.

 Brad and the others suddenly came back with their equipment, traps, etc.

  “We’ve got it,” he panted. He patted T on the head. “You should… stay behind the front lines, okay?”

 T frowned.

  “Um, Brad…” I whispered to him. “Listen, old-buddy, T here’s, well… a little strange.”

 Caila frowned at them. “Hey, guys…” she said.

 Brad glanced at her. “Yeah?”

  “The kids from this town, they’re not playing,” she explained. We all stared at her, surprised.

  “Hold on,” Diablo muttered. “Why not?”

 Caila shrugged. “My dad said we ‘demoralized’ them or something, having kicked their butts so many times,” she told us.

 Brad looked back at all the stuff he and Gene spent most of their time packing up. “Aw, man… are you sure about this?”

 Caila sighed. “You should probably keep it all out, just in case.”

 Gene nodded. “Hmm. I HAVE been waiting for a break like this for a while,” he admitted. Brad grinned. “Say, Terrence! Diablo! Wanna help me build a snow-slide!”

 The three of them nodded in agreement, bolting off. Shrugging, the rest of the class put down their stuff and left off to do their own thing, leaving the six of us- Me, T, Caila, Gene, Finn, and Felix.

  “So, T, what do you want to do…” Finn said awkwardly. T shrugged. “Whatever you want.”

  “Let’s just go hang out at a place with a lot of snow,” I decided. We all nodded in agreement- we could do all sorts of things from there.

 Caila led us to a small park, near a bit of field with a few benches. Felix and Gene began building a snowman, while the rest of us just enjoyed the day.

  “So this is what it feels like, huh?” I muttered. “To finally triumph over the enemy, send them squealing for mommy? Hmm. I’m disappointed.”

 Fin shrugged. “Maybe we just have a lot of things on our mind,” he suggested. I glanced at T, but shook my head- as weird as she was, maybe I just didn’t dislike the kids from this town enough, or I wanted to do more. Overall, I expected revenge to be a lot more satisfying…

 T sat down in the snow, grabbing a stick and drawing pictures in the snow. Caila leaned forward. “What’re you drawing, T?” she asked.

  “Nightmares,” she replied.

  “Ni-” Finn and I looked, and stopped, because what we saw certainly would cause nightmares.

 We saw drawings of a giant, demonic entity made of smoke and shadow with a snake coming out of its mouth, towering over several snake-like beings and humans. Several demonic beings, from a man made of crystal to a hawk-like creature made of bone surrounded them, breathing flames, doing all sorts of nasty stuff.

 Overall, it was awesome.

  “T… where did you say you were from?” Finn asked, clearly not as impressed as I was.

  “A dream.”

 T kept drawing in the snow. Now she was drawing two shining men in the middle of the tormented humans and snake-like beings.

 Wait a minute… humans? Snake-like humanoids? Two shining men?

 I pointed at the people. “Are those… humans and Serpentine?” T shrugged. “Yes.”

  “Do you know who those two people are?”

  “No. But I saw them a lot… but then, two months ago, I didn’t.”

 I frowned- I guess my theory was wrong, because I actually wondered if the two men were supposed to represent my dad and uncle, Lee and Wu Garmadon. But no… T mentioned seeing both of them, and she was way too young to have seen my dad before his death.

 Still… I wondered if it was coincidence or not, but she mentioned to have ‘seen them disappear’ about two months ago, around the same time the Tower of Tears was destroyed…

 Leaning over to T, I whispered, “Have you ever been to the Tower of Tears?” When she shook her head, I frowned- I was dealing with too many mysteries, and worst of all I had to wait- and in that time all the wrong things could happen.

  “Did you actually talk to them?” Finn asked, clearly interested like I was. T shrugged. “I just watched- and it wasn’t like I could…”

 Caila frowned, but I decided to change the subject- I could think about it later, and despite my curiosity, T’s drawing was the least of my problems.

  “Hey, T, did you know Caila’s got powers, too?” I asked her. T looked at Caila, then frowned. “Like what?”

 Caila seemed a bit guilty, and I was reminded of her conversation with her dad, whoever he was. “Yeah… I’ve got the abilities of each serpentine tribe. Of course, you probably don’t know who the serpentine are…”

  “I do,” T replied. The three of us looked at her funnily, but then shrugged- Obviously, Trexdis, Metallicus, or one of the staff must’ve explained to T prior to her introduction.

  “Wanna see?” Caila asked. At this point, I wasn’t even sure WHAT we were doing- it was mostly awkward bits of conversation and the occasional random act.

 T nodded, turning away from her drawing and standing up. Caila closed her eyes for a second, and we watched as her entire body faded into the background, her silhouette, a thin, silver line, eventually evaporating.

 T stared, impressed. “Do you ever use them to fight?” she asked. Caila shimmered back into view, frowning.

  “No,” she admitted. “I mostly used it to escape the other kids before I could beat them all up on my own. Even then, I hated it, running away…”

 T looked at her, and for a moment she seemed sad. “I wonder what it’d be like to be with other people for so long…”

  “Did… your dad, like, isolate you?” Finn asked. T shook her head.

  “No… it’s just that our place was very lonely.”

  “Why, um… interesting… work of… _art_ … you have there, T…” Felix muttered, running up to us. He glanced at the drawing, a bit disturbed- but then shrugged it off, since it was just a drawing. “T, do you want to participate in a chilling snow-ball fight between me and the arrogant, charismatic nerd Gene?”

  “NERD?!”

 T nodded. “I’ve never had a snowball fight before.”

  “Well, they’re PLENTY of fun,” Gene explained greasily, catching up. “It is a –somewhat- harmless substitute for real fights. The thrill of battle, victory, the rush of attack and escape, the strategies, the plans… oh, yes, it’s a shame we wasted our talents on such _pathetic_ opponents.”

 Gene gestured to the nearby neighborhood, where most of the chimneys left trails of smoke the slithered into the sky like snakes.

  “We can teach you how to,” Finn explained. He grabbed a pile of snow, patting it together and tightening the ice, packing it until it was hard enough. “See? Easy enough.”

 T made a snowball just as easily, and before Finn could elaborate more, threw it at a Stop Sign, which was a pretty decent distance away.

 Caila clapped her hands together. “Nice!”

 I shrugged. “She’s right- but you should keep practicing, because a real person isn’t incredibly stiff and doesn’t stay completely still as a snowball comes towards them. At least, most people…”

  “But for now, we can celebrate a brief success and continue,” Felix declared. T smiled just a little bit, and only briefly, and the five of us began teaching her how to make a snowball in even faster time, how to best carry several of them, aim, throw, etc. Then the five of us, once we felt T had practiced enough, began acting as targets, running around as fast as we could, waving our arms and screaming (why, I don’t know- probably because it was fun). Finn even tried to imitate Coach Yelatem a bit, although to tell the truth I hoped he wasn’t actually going to stick with it. I already had ONE Drill Teacher in my life…

  “IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!” Finn roared one time when T failed to hit any of us. “Back in MY day, we threw pebbles at flies!”

  “Sounds like something Yelatem would make us do…” I grumbled. Felix chuckled. “Now, don’t give him any ideas!”

  “I AM A SCREAMING DUCK. PLEASE HIT ME.” Gene yelled.

 After sevel more tries, with Finn emulating Yelatem (“WE HAD TO THROW FRISBEES AT RACE CARS… WHILE THEY WERE COMPETING IN THE WORLD CUP!!!!”), T actually managed to nail Gene.

  “Very good,” he praised, wiping the snow out of his glasses. “Let’s keep trying until you can get us all in one round, hmm?”

 T nodded, and we continued to help her practice. Felix was next to be hit, and Finn and I kept competing to see who would get hit first, until I eventually got attacked in the shoulder when I stumbled on a patch of snow that turned out to be more shallow than it looked. Eventually, Finn was taken down, then Caila, and T kept practicing. One time, she got three of us, but that was as close as she could get.

  “Let’s stop and take a rest,” Caila panted after countless attempts. “Once we’re done, we can help you dodge things, okay, T?”

 T nodded, and this time she was freely smiling. “Sure!” The six of us sat down on a partially-frozen bench, talking to each other and making jokes, and congratulating T on her success.

 I felt that feeling- that one you had where, after a while of feeling like the new kid, the klutz and the noob, you were now fully part of the gang and actually training and introducing someone else.

 Soon enough, Felix and Gene were trying to play baseball, with snow and signs they broke off.

  “NO, no no!” Felix snarled. “Don’t clasp it too hard like they do with real baseballs! That just causes it to break!”

  “I’m afraid I must argue with your logic, Ramses,” Gene retorted. “Clearly clasping it would help pack the snow further into the center, thus making it more durable…”

 And so on.

 It wasn’t long before T joined them, playing as the catcher. I had to admit- with someone her size, she was awfully fast, and being short helped her maneuver through obstacles in the way.

  “So, what happened to that ‘Newbie Initiation’ you mentioned a few weeks back?” I sneered at Finn, raising an eyebrow as the two of us and Caila sat on the bench. Finn scowled.

  “Metallicus would tear me apart if I did,” Finn retorted. “Besides, T’s already seen a lot, clearly…”

 He gestured at her drawing, which by now had crumbled mostly and was hard to make out.

  “Oh, so I see you two have both been interrogated by your history teacher, eh?” Caila chuckled, putting both of her arms around our shoulders. I shrugged. “In this case, the enemy of my enemy is NOT my friend,” I replied casually.

  “Honestly, besides Metallicus, who IS your least favorite teacher?” Finn asked. “Mine’s Scors- the guy clearly sees us as nothing but expensive material he has to look after.”

  “He’s tolerable,” I said with a shrug. “Besides, looking through their perspectives, we must be annoying- so I try my best to irritate them. That aside, I hate Arakchos the second most- she’s a total creep, has some sadistic aura, and everytime she mentions Krumm I’m not sure if I should keep an eye on him or lock him up in a box and throw him out the window.”

  “Actually… I think I can tolerate Metallicus a bit,” Caila admitted. “Then again, I barely know the teachers, although if you ask me, I dislike Yelatem the most. To me, he seems like some dumb brute.”

  “I actually kind of respect him a bit,” Finn admitted. “He pushes us to the limits, but that’s what we need to survive. Life is harsh, so he tells it to us straight and doesn’t hesitate to point out that in the real world, we don’t have any time at all.”

  “Yeah, but he’s an idiot.” I sneered. “That’s one reason I think Metallicus is better… in fact, history is my favorite subject. It’s just the teacher.”

 I yawned, and soon enough Felix, Gene, and T returned, after Felix broke the sign-bat after swinging too hard in the wrong direction.

  “Okay, T, let’s try to see how you can dodge from us, okay?” Caila explained to T. Two of us –Gene and Felix- prepared a pile of snowballs and stood side-to-side. T waited for them several feet away, and when Caila gave the signal, they fired.

 T did pretty well- her small size and speed made her hard to nail, and she was surprisingly agile. I guess she wasn’t as fragile as I expected her to be, but I guess that was physically. Then again, maybe Finn was right, about her drawing- and the way she had expected us to do pretty nasty stuff to the kids from this town suggested a lot.

 Eventually, Caila kept on adding more of us to throw at T, and from different angles. It wasn’t very long before she was hit, but it was still a great job for a first-timer.

  “Congratulations, T!” Gene announced. “You have done a splendid job! Your speed and agility, as well as your size, make you a tricky target? While I am not so sure about endurance, your strength could use a little working on, so perhaps we should give you a slingshot?”

 T nodded, panting. “Okay,” she agreed. “But, Finn… I have a question- where are your parents?”

 Finn paled for a moment, and I sincerely hoped he wouldn’t go berserk.

  “Well… where’s yours, T?” I said quickly. I couldn’t have my fellow classmates holding grudges against each other- that could be problematic.

 T frowned. “My daddy’s back at home. He says he’s busy with some old friends, and that I need to experience the real world.”

 For a moment, I paled like Finn- Old friend? That sounded a lot like what that voice in my last dream said…

  “Well, the real world is a harsh place,” Felix warned, patting her on the head. “It is us juvenile victims whom you can count on, and trust… to play a few practical jokes on you, of course, but we mean no spite!”

  “I don’t remember what happened to my mother,” Gene admitted. “I was just dropped off at an orphanage like Lloyd, but then one night Arakchos came in while everyone else was asleep, told me I would be presented real knowledge, and took off with me. I’ve heard a rumor that my dad may have been the leader of a powerful organization, but I honestly am clueless.”

  “My dad and mom are fine,” Caila said quickly, averting her eyes.

  “Yes, I am an orphan, just like Lloyd, but I know little of my parentage. Frared took me in.” Felix admitted. I nodded.

  “Some skeletons were after my mom. She agreed to send me to Darkley’s to ‘protect’ me –As if!- and disappeared. I was sent to the orphanage for a while, and while Trexdis picked me up a skeleton ambushed us. At the school, I learned about my ancestry.”

 Finally, Finn sighed. “My mom… she died. Some men wearing thin, sleek armor, with faces covered in cloth and wearing brificus. They did it to her. Then Metallicus told me my dad, the Insect Master, was rotting off somewhere- and Lloyd thinks he’s in the Tower of Tears. However, he must’ve broken out two months ago, so why he’s not looking for me, I’m not sure…”

  “Well, it’s likely he doesn’t even know you exist,” I pointed out. “If he wasn’t there, he must’ve been otherwise occupied….”

 Then a nasty thought struck me- How did the Insect Master get in the Tower of Tears in the first place? As far as I knew, there was only one person who could access the Tower…

 Slowly, it must’ve dawned on Finn, and for a moment, he stared at me with… I wasn’t sure. Hatred? Disgust? Pity? Sympathy (since we both realize that Wu was responsible for the misfortune to our dads)? Either way, we both shared the same enemy- but whether or not that made us allies was unclear.

 Then a voice shattered into our minds… a voice I sincerely hated it, and will always despise.

  “You _stupid_ kids…”


	33. We get attacked by a Giant Snake for Christmas

 We all turned to see the same adult from that day at the snowforts, the one who threatened us, the one Metallicus and the others took care of. The jerk was seething with rage, eyeing us with pure hate, looking down on us like we were some abominations of nature. That look caused a spark of anger to flare inside me, and though I never asked, the same could be said for the others.

 He walked over to us, kicking down the snowman Felix and Gene made. “You FREAKS completely ruined our town!” he snarled, and I gritted my teeth. I seriously wanted to just gang up on him, unleash the anger and bitterness I had been building up my entire life, ever since I arrived at the orphanage…

  “This place looks perfectly fine, if you ask me!” I retorted. “Well, except for the fact that guys like _you_ are here!” The adult stomped forward, his foot jabbing into T’s drawing and destroying it.

  “We were fine without freaks like you!” he sneered. “Then you ruined everything! You’re like some aliens! Our kids used to play at these forts every Winter, but now they’re all crying and hiding in their beds because of YOU! LEAVE, and stay out!”

  “Don’t act like some bigshot!” Finn snarled, and for a moment he and I could forget about Wu. “To us, you’re nothing but some bully, some jerk from a place for snobs! We’d rather stay in the Boarding School than be with you losers!”

  “LOSERS?! Why you FREAKING STUPID KIDS!”

 And that was when he did it. The adult lashed out and struck Finn in the face.

 We all went completely berserk, and launched ourselves at him, scratching, biting, kicking, seeing nothing but red. Felix got the remains of the sign-bat and slammed it into the adult, and for the first time ever, in his entire life, Finn took out the claws –the cursed claws- and slashed at the adult with them.

 It wasn’t long before he was on the ground, but we kept on pummeling him- fueling our bitterness, our rage, the despair stuck-up, high-and-mighty snobs like him brought onto us. For once, we could actually enjoy our revenge properly, unleash our pure wrath and hate.

 We were so busy beating him up, T, biting him, Felix beating him, Finn clawing him, and the rest of us just fighting with our fists and feet, that we never noticed it come. All I noticed, in my blind fury, was a faint hissing.

  “ _Ssssss…_ ”

 And then an alien, terrible screeching noise tore through the air, ripping it apart. It struck at all of us, but us six Darkley’s kids avoided being caught by it. The adult… well, to this day I never felt any remorse about it.

 We were all tossed violently on the ground, and we all glanced to see a pretty disgusting, horrible, gruesome, and terrifying sight.

 There was an enormous serpent, a mottled dark gray mixed with green, with sleek, jagged scales like knives. It was enormous, about the width of a teenager, and countless feet long- I’d say a bit longer than a giant truck. It had an enormous head, the size of two fully-grown men, diamond-shaped with several long, jagged fangs, all long, thin, and serrated, acids and venom dripping from them.

 But its eyes… over its left eye, printed like a golden tattoo, was a symbol of an eye- I didn’t recognize it, yet it brought chills to my blood. Each of its eyes could hardly be called eyes- every heard of the phrase, “A glare as hard as stone?” Well, the same could be said literally for the serpent. Instead of eyes, it had large, smooth orbs of a stone-like material, polished, and a deep midnight purple. Instead of pupils, it had three dark-green slashes.

 And hanging from its mouth, his leg mangled, was the adult.

  “PLEASE!!!!” he sobbed, screaming as the serpent hissed, swinging him around like a ragdoll. He looked pretty beaten up, with several bruises and suspicious scratches. He screamed constantly, waving his arms around so pathetically.

 For a moment, I was shocked- but then I considered if risking my life to save him was worth it.

 I smirked for a moment. I definitely knew the answer to that…

 I glanced at the others. Caila and Felix looked horrified. Gene, like me, didn’t care, and Finn, for a moment, seemed unsure of what to do. And T just watched, unsurprised, as if she watched much worse before.

  “HELP ME!!!!!!!” the adult screamed, and before we knew it he bgean to slide into the mouth of the serpent, its hideous tongue wraping around him. How karmic.

 Then Caila cried out. “NO!”

 I honestly wasn’t sure why she was so terrified- and even as she said it, the adult slid down the serpent’s throat, his screaming becoming muffled. The snake hissed, flickering its tongue, and slithered towards us.

 That was when I realized that it probably wasn’t going to stop with us. We all backed off, and Felix grabbed his broken sign, as if that would make any real difference.

 The serpent slithered towards us, and I glanced at Caila, having already been there, seen that. “You’re the gal with the Serpentine powers,” I muttered. “Isn’t there anything you can do with a fellow snake?”

 Caila nodded, and for a moment her eyes flashed- but the serpent suddenly shut its eyes, and Caila cursed.

  “Oh, no…” she muttered faintly. I honestly had no idea what she had been attempting to do, but it obviously involved eye contact, and this snake clearly came prepared.

 Gene snapped to his senses as well, and I expected him to make some super-complicated plan of survival. However, what he said made more sense than anything he might’ve uttered.

  “Run.”

 We all made a break for it- but the serpent lashed out with its tail, wrapping it around us and constricting. I lost my breath instantly, and all six of us struggled, with T and I being the calmest.

_Come on, Metallicus,_ I thought to myself. _We’ve seen this procedure before with Nikon- and when you’ve got six kids on the line, and if you’d threaten to torture us if we weren’t nice to T, surely you could sense this or something?!_

  “Oh, no…” Felix muttered, getting paler by the second. “This SERIOUSLY can’t be the end for us… can it? Well, then it’s outright LAME!”

  “You’re complaining about the stupidness of our deaths?!” Finn snarled, trying to use his claws. However, his hands were bound to his sides.

  “A few of us are the direct descendants of powerful people,” T admitted. “It would be a waste of potential, and the teachers’ time if we just died now.”

 Caila suddenly had a grim look on her face, determined and ready to fight. “No,” she decided. “I’m not supposed to use this during emergencies, but…”

  “Gee, you could’ve just used it now instead of waiting for Mr. Scales to eat us!” I snapped, surprised at Caila’s stupidity (call it what you want, it was still stupid of her).

 Even then, the serpent’s blade-like tongue flickered, ready to feast. Its head reared back, and its jaws stretched wide open, ready to attack as venom began flowing from its fangs like water from a faucet.

  “Guys, I just want to say this before I die,” Gene admitted, panicking. “But Lloyd, Metallicus asked me to spy on you ever since you joined!”

  “Yeah, I kind of figured that out for myself like, _two seconds_ after we left history that day,” I admitted dryly. Gene went red in the face.

  “ _What?!_ ” he hissed. “THEN HOW- BUT THEN- _I DON’T-_ ”

  “Normally the main characters would yell at Death’s face in defiance,” Felix muttered, completely freaking out. “But I figure screaming’s no different- so, _AAAAAIIIIEEE!!!_ ”

 For a moment, Caila’s hands glowed- I wondered what tribe had that power. But before I could think about it, the snake lunged, screeching.

  “SSSKKKKKREEEEEEE-”

 That was when it came, which T and I had been waiting for some time -a silver flash- and the serpent’s head fell to the ground with a nasty sound.

  “PTTHK.”

 Steam flowed out of its dead body, and to my dismay the still-alive body of the adult slid out, covered in guck and shivering with terror, unconscious. The lower half ot is body slumped to the ground, and its tail loosened its grip on us. Caila’s hands stopped glowing, and we climbed out.

 The six of us stared to look at our gruesome savior- Metallicus, wielding the black blade from that night during Halloween, when Nikon attacked. The other teachers were there as well, grimly inspecting the mess and still disguised underneath their winter clothes.

  “ _Metallicus?!_ ” Felix muttered, shocked. Metallicus glanced at us, sheathing his blade.

  “Why, hello, students,” he said dryly, as if this was no big deal (and I agreed, since Nikon could at least shape-shift, blast lightning, absorb it, and fly). “Terrible day today, isn’t it?”

 Caila backed away from him, and T just nodded, about as casual as him. Trexdis sighed. “You should step back for a moment.” I glanced at Trexdis, and even though her face was hidden, I could tell what her look was saying- We were beginning to get into more dangerous stuff, sooner than they had planned.

  “Too bad he lived,” Scors sighed, gesturing towards the adult. Yelatem slammed his fists together. “ATTABOY, Metallicus!”

 Arakchos scuttled over to the corpse, paying no attention to us. “Shame. We could’ve kept it alive, and I could’ve studied it…”

 Draik, however, for the first time in my life –probably the first time in his life, too- looked absolutely terrified as he stared at the snake… as he stared at that symbol emblazoned over its left eye, at the orbs that rested in its sockets.

  “…Impossible…” he whispered silently. The other teachers looked at it, and Frared, Trexdis, and Metallicus went still.

  “Not so, old friend…” Metallicus whispered. “Not so.”

  “Metallicus?” T asked, going over to him and tugging at his cape. “Why are you so scared of a little snake?”

 Little? If that was her idea of little, then I wondered what her idea of big was- probably the Great Devourer.

  “It’s not the snake itself, T, but the message it brings… its masters…” Metallicus whispered softly. Scors and Yelatem grunted, clearly confused. Felix stared. “Uh… what?”

  “Say… would you please tell me why there’s an EYE OF HORUS ON THIS THING?!” Scors snarled. “You don’t have to be so cryptic, jeez!”

 Metallicus shook his head. “Right,” he muttered. Then he glanced at us. “We do not speak of this at all, not to the other students. You may talk to it with the teachers and staff, but only if they permit so. And if you do tell the unallowed…”

 He suddenly went a deathly, terrifying quiet. “I will know.”

 All of us, except T, stared in terror. Draik quickly took out his wand, and energy sparked at the tip as smoke poured, wrapping around the snake’s body and dissipating, until it dissipated, leaving nothing but the adult, who was completely clean and healed, no sign of any fight, which disappointed me.

  “I’d advise you stay with the other students,” Draik hissed. “For now.”

 Then he flicked his wand, and he and the teachers disappeared in a blinding light.

 

 For a moment, we stood there, not speaking at all.

 Why? I glanced at Caila, Finn, and Felix- clearly, they were terrified and shocked. Gene, on the other hand, was intrigued, like a younger, male version of Arakchos. And as for T and I? Well, the both of us clearly saw a LOT worse stuff, like Nikon and whatnot… the snake seemed pretty average. In fact, the only reason the two of us were silent was because we weren’t the type to blab off to others.

 Finally, Felix broke the silence, gathering enough sense of his to speak.

  “So… I guess we should heed Draik’s orders and seek out the others?” he squeaked.

  “Yeah…” Finn said slowly. “Why not?”

 The six of us nodded in agreement, murmuring in agreement. However, as we walked, my mind was in a furious storm of thoughts.

 Why was Draik so scared of a giant snake? It was CLEARLY a lot easier to defeat than Nikon, who took the entire staff to take down (and a lot of effort from them, too). Metallicus offed the serpent within a second.

 Then I wondered- maybe he had a phobia of snakes? Kind of like Indiana Jones. On the other hand, Draik has been around for a LONG time, and I have a feeling that an all-powerful wizard like him would’ve gotten rid of such a stupid fear over the centuries.

 Okay. So we know its power and overall identity had no affect on Draik. So why so scared?

 Then I remembered what Metallicus said- something about a message, and masters…

 That was when it hit me- what if the snake was SERVING someone?! Just like Nikon, who mentioned a Mistress…

 Then I wondered if this Mistress was behind a lot of the escapees from the Tower of Tears- assuming the serpent was an escapee.

 Suddenly, everything went into place as my mind blew up from a nucear genius explosion. All of the puzzle pieces –or at least the ones I had- seemed to fit into place. I thought about the Crystal-Eyed Mummy… it had been forever since he crossed my mind, since all _they_ had done was stare at me- what if they had been checking me out?

 I remembered Nikon mentioning he didn’t know how I looked until that Halloween night. What if the Crystal-Eyed Mummy was some sort of scout for the Mistress, and he had been sent to check me out, to figure out who I was and what I looked like, so Nikon wouldn’t accidentally go after someone else, like Kyle Germa?

 And then things began to fit in more perfectly when I remembered how Nikon also mentioned ‘sources’… who was to say it was the Bug-Eyed Mummy? And now, the Mistress had supposedly sent in the giant snake to eat me and the others when she learned just how vulnerable I was, outside of the barrier…

 Of course, clearly she underestimated just how vicious the teachers were, and with good reason. Why? Because, as much as I hated them, and they protected me, I was theirs. I belonged to them, their property. The staff didn’t want to share, and didn’t like to, just like most people I knew.

 But then I wondered… what about Samukai and the Dark Lord/Cross? They freed the escapees… but was it on a whim? What relation did they have with the Mistress?

 Then I came up with another brilliant theory- what if the Mistress only SERVED the DL/Cross and Samukai? What if they destroyed the Tower, and the Mistress took a few escapees under her wing? Then, the three of them sent in Gruesome to capture me that night before my birthday, and then sent the Crystal-Eyed Mummy to the school for reconnaissance so Nikon could infiltrate?

 Then, the Tear, who survived the breakout, learned of this and tried to warn me, but somehow was captured? And when Nikon failed to get me, they decided to lay low, so Draik and the others woudn’t figure out it was them! And now that they sent the serpent, I have a feeling Draik has now realized that his former pupil was back, and hungry for revenge…

 Suddenly, T broke my thoughts.

  “Lloyd, you’ve been having the same dumb look on your face for the last few minutes,” she pointed out. I have to admit- despite all I had theorized and pieced together, my face went red.

  “Uh…”

 Finn sneered. “Guess you’re not so well after that incident with the snake, huh?”

  “Neither were you!” I retorted.

  “Snake? What snake?”

 Terrence came up to us. Behind him, Brad and Diablo were making a giant snowman, which was littered with a bunch of twigs, dirt, and dead leaves.

 Luckily, I was already prepared for this, but before I could speak, Gene interrupted me.

  “Caila was showing off her abilities again, _of course_ ,” he sneered. “However, this time the snake was made out of an object far larger and sturdier than a twig, and Ayabbers and Garmadon freaked!”

  “You mean _you_ did, Gene?” Felix chucked.

 Terrence shook his head. “You know what, I don’t wanna know- so, you guys wanna help us make the world’s largest snowman?”

  “You guys keep doing this every single day, and without much success…” Caila pointed out. However, the rest of us shrugged.

  “Why not?” soon enough, the six of us joined Diablo, Brad, and Terrence, and we worked vigorously on the snowman. Apparently, each giant snowball we made (about the height of Finn) was supposed to be each toe. And I’m sorry to admit it, but we failed pretty epicly and just stuck to dunking each other’s head into the snow. Even when Terrence dunked T’s head, she just laughed.

 I smirked when I saw it happen. _I guess she’s not so much of a wimp after all,_ I thought to myself.

 Suddenly, an idea crossed my mind- what if I told T, Finn, Caila, Gene, and Felix about Nikon, and what really happened in the Generator Room?

 After all, they just went through the same situation I did, being terrified by a monstrous being before getting their butts saved, and threatened not to tell the others. If I told them, I could get a load off of my chest, they’d understand, and maybe I could even tell them about the Crystal-Eyed Mummy and the Tear…

_But even if they understood,_ I thought to myself. _The teachers might not- they told me not to tell anyone else, and I doubt they’d be eager if more knew about Nikon and the other incidents._

_On the other hand, they never said anything about the Crystal-Eyed Mummy and the Tear…_ I thought to myself.  _True, I told Yelatem and Scors about the Mummy, but they never said anything against telling the others…_

 That was when I made my decision- because as far as I knew, while if the teachers found out about the Crystal-Eyed Mummy and the Tear, they would only have themselves to blame. Granted, Yelatem might attack me anyway, considering his lack of any logic whatsoever, but…

 But then I wondered; when WOULD I tell them? Personally, I would’ve liked to tell them as soon as possible, and all of them at same place. But that could be hard with the others –Terrence, Brad, and Diablo- around. And of course, Caila wasn’t going to be around in a few hours, so I had to make up some excuse, or wait for my chance.

 I decided that in the end, I had all the time in the world, and shrugging it all off, tried to force Gene’s head into a pile of snow. To tell the truth, I wasn’t as successful as I hoped I’d be.

 It wasn’t long before my chance came during lunch. The six of us were eating, enjoying our meals, near Barn’s and Nobel’s, where I first met Caila. Even as Finn was snacking on some potato chips, I decided to let loose the truth.

  “Hey, guys…” I said slowly, taking a pretty big breath- I was going to need all the oxygen I could get, because while this wasn’t my fault at all, it still felt like it. Stupid guilt.

 T, Caila, and Finn glanced at me, while Felix was too busy trying to get a piece of chunky baloney out of his mouth and Gene probably didn’t hear at all (the two of us sat at the opposite ends of the bench).

  “What is it, Dweeb?” Finn sneered, unimpressed. To be frank, I was hoping the winter cold would keep me from sweating, but it happened anyway and it began to feel like the sun was hurtling towards us at the speed of light.

  “Well… you know, uh, how the snake attacked us, right…?” I said slowly, stammering and tripping over my words. Come to think of it, I had never really considered HOW I was going to tell them- it’s not everyday you admit that you’ve been watched by a Tower of Tear escapee and warned by one of its guards.

  “Just spit it out, Lloyd,” Caila insisted. By now Felix and Gene had noticed.

 I thought about that, and realized she was right. In this sort of world, there wasn’t any time nor room for letting it on easy, so I told them as bluntly and quickly as possible, both to save me the trouble of explaining and the others the time and focus of listening.

  “On Halloween at lunch I saw a crystal-eyed Mummy staring at me from one of the mountains at the cafeteria window before he left and then a Tear –a guy made of water and one of those dudes at the Tower of Tears- ambushed me in the bathroom and told me to beware the Dark Lord and Samukai before he got sucked in by the plumbing!”

 I took a deep breath.

 The others just stared, for a moment not even sure what I said, and now probably trying to comprehend my words and what they meant.

 Gene was the first to speak;

  “What?”

 You know how in movies and books, whenever a character tells someone their secret, it feels like a weight has been lifted off of their chest? Well, surprisingly enough (to me, at the very least) it was true. Come to think of it, I always did have some sort of slight, subtle weight whenever we went near the topic of the Tower of Tears, and just before telling them it felt like my chest had gained a thousand pounds. It quite frankly felt good, like a breath of fresh air after hiding in the humid air of your blanket at night after a bad dream.

 Of course, this good feeling would probably demolish instantly like Yelatem’s breakfast if the others hated me from there… oh well. Might as well take what I can get, like I’ve been doing for my entire life.


	34. I come (mostly) clean

 Finn was the next to speak up. “So…” he said slowly, and slightly confused, as if trying to figure out his emotions. “You’ve been attacked by two guys so far –A mummy thing you mentioned, and a Tear, whatever that is- and you never told us?”

  “So this was as far back as HALLOWEEN?!” Felix muttered, incredulous. “That’s only your SECOND day at Darkley’s!”

 Caila whistled. “You DO have a busy life. I just never imagined…”

 T seemed confused. “Why didn’t you tell the others?”

 I shrugged, sighing. “I don’t know! I guess I was freaked out, and maybe I thought the teachers wouldn’t want me to tell you guys… and the first time, I thought I was hallucinating.”

 Okay, that was a lie. But I decided to use it anyway, just in case I needed to justify myself any further.

 So far, Caila just seemed surprised but a bit impressed, T didn’t seem impressed nor affected at all, Felix seemed a bit confused, Gene had an intense expression, as if trying to figure out how this was relevant or whatnot, and Finn gave me a cold stare, and quite frankly I couldn’t blame him.

  “So how come you never told us about the Tear guy?” he demanded. I shrugged. “Well, I guess I thought you might think I was insane, or wanted attention.”

  “No kid at Darkley is THAT stupid to do that…” Felix pointed out. “But as for being insane… well…”

 He scratched his chin thoughtfully.

  “Anyway,” I continued on. “And when you guys finally DID realize I wasn’t the kind of person to do that, it more or less slipped my mind, and I kind of wanted to bury the whole thing altogether.”

  “How come you never told us about this when we began searching up the Tower of Tears?!” Finn snarled. Before I could answer (and trust me, I had a lot of backup retorts, just in case) Gene spoke up.

  “Most likely because we found out everything we needed –or could- to know about the Tower, in which case telling us about his encounter would be irrelevant. And as for the first case, obviously he either believed he was hallucinating from the school macaroni, or because we already knew about the escapees, thus making this information irrelevant!”

  “Wait, the school macaroni makes you hallucinate?!” I muttered. Still, I decided Gene must’ve been figuring out why I never told the others on his own. Of course, if he knew the real reasons…

 Still, it startled me how a teacher’s pet like him managed to deduce this much, even if it was wrong (and granted, he didn’t have ALL of the clues, or the actual information, so…). I had always imagined him as the ‘Booksmart’ type, and not the ‘Streetsmart’. But still, the fact that he was both kind of rattled me- maybe because I had judged him incorrectly, or because he could be an even better villain than me…

_Hold on,_ I reminded myself. _Don’t let your pride get to you- there’s always a bigger fish, someone better. If you let your ego deny the obvious, that’s just begging for the worst._

 Anyway, I nodded to Gene’s suggestion. “Yeah, you’re right,” I lied. “Also, by the time of the Tower of Tears incident, I was kind of afraid you guys might, you know… but when the snake attacked, I decided you guys could understand.”

 Blegh. As corny as what I said sounded, it was more or less true. Of course, I wish I could’ve reworded it all…

 Gene just shrugged, and so did Felix. “I suppose you only reacted like any other human, Garmy,” Felix admitted.

  “Don’t call me that!”

 Finn still seemed a little skeptical, and T didn’t really care at all, just continuing to eat her lunch. Caila, on the other hand…

 She didn’t meet my eyes. I thought it was because she was mad at _me_ , personally (which made absolutely no sense, as I had zero reason to tell her, unlike with the others), but then I realized _she_ looked guilty…

 Then I wondered if Caila had a secret herself- and now that I was confessing, she might’ve been…

 Then Finn broke the silence.

  “Wait, you mentioned the Tear told you about a Dark Lord and Samukai!”

 Crud.

 The other stared at me, surprised.

 My reaction?

  _Well, it was only a matter of time before I let loose a slip of tongue,_ I thought. _I AM only human, after all, and a child as well…_

 Still, for a moment I stopped, trying to look really guilty so it would seem like I had another reason for not telling. I sighed, just to buy myself a second or two, and I finally came up with an excuse.

  “He told me to ‘Beware a Dark Lord and Samukai’,” I explained, and to tell the truth, I wasn’t lying when I said that. “So I assumed they were some Tower of Tear escapees who were just dangerous in particular, but their existence didn’t matter in the investigation.”

 Then, remembering what I said about Samukai on November 2nd, I went on. “When I searched up Samukai, I was trying to find out about him. Supposedly, he’s-”

  “A Warlord that perished in combat,” Gene finished, smiling viciously. But at who, I wasn’t sure.

  “And then later on I searched up the Dark Lord,” I lied. I was planning to say that I found nothing, but then Gene interrupted me.

  “And he turned out to be part of a prophecy,” Gene interrupted. For a moment, I almost stared in surprise, but then I nodded.

  “One ninja shall rise above the others and become the one destined to defeat the Dark Lord; the Green Ninja.” Gene recited confidently. Even though I had never heard of that, and this revelation brought all sorts of thoughts to my head, I nodded in fake familiarity.

  “Again, I thought this Green Ninja and Dark Lord had nothing to do with us at all, so I didn’t bother,” I explained, looking at Gene with fake gratitude.

 For the most part, everyone seemed impressed and apparently had forgiven me. Finn, on the other hand, glared at me skeptically. Still, I wasn’t too afraid of him- I felt like the only one who was a credible threat was Gene, although I probably should keep an eye on Finn anyway, just in case…

  “Well, although this prophecy of the Green Ninja and Samukai have no impact whatsoever on our investigation-” Felix began, but of course Finn spoke up once more.

  “Wait, doesn’t anyone find it weird that the Tear told Lloyd to beware Samukai, even though he’s supposed to be dead?” he demanded, and to tell the truth I myself had thought the exact same thing.

  “I honestly don’t know,” I admitted. “Listen, I had a lot on my mind during those days, and it gave me headaches, and I just wanted to toss it out of the window. Even my mind can get tired, you know.”

 Still, while the others bought my explanation, they were still intrigued by what Finn said.

  “…Maybe Samukai never died?” T suggested, stating the obvious. “I don’t think Metallicus was there when it happened, anyway.”

 I had to admit, that was what I initially thought at first, until I remembered how he looked like a skeleton- but the others didn’t know about my dream, so that didn’t matter.

  “But from what you said, the Tear has implied that Samukai has still lived on to this day, even if it wasn’t the spells that took him out,” Felix pointed out.

 Well, time to throw in a little fun…

  “Maybe…” I said slowly. “Maybe he had Garmadon blood?”

 The six of us stopped for a moment, mulling it over.

   “Impossible,” Finn muttered. “He’d have to be related to a Garmadon-”

  “-Or somehow infuse their blood into him,” Caila added. We all stared, surprised with her gruesome suggestion. When she noticed us staring, she cleared her throat.

  “Well… it IS the only way Samukai could get Garmadon blood. I can imagine a few ways how…”

  “Not quite,” Gene sneered, tut-tutting smugly. “The reason why Lloyd’s blood-” He pinched me.

  “Ow!”

  “-Gives him an indefinite lifespan is because, as stated in Metallicus’ works, of the presence of a special hot pot of chemicals, enyzymes, elements, compounds, and overall a list of ingredients you might see in an alchemist’s shopping list. Perhaps Samukai somehow acquired knowledge of these necessary items and implanted them into his bloodstream?”

  “And how do we know it’s the Samukai Metallicus mentioned?” Felix pointed out, and I started- he might actually have a point.

  “Just think about it,” he pointed out. “Is it not uncommon for royal or descendants of powerful beings to be named after them? Such as ‘Elizabeth III’ or even –for peasants- ‘Tom Jr’. Perhaps this is a descendant named after his or her famous ancestor, and the Tear was too lazy to specify on a number. After all, I’d just call someone Elizabeth, without the roman numerals if you please.”

 I had to admit… what Felix said made a lot more sense than with what I came up with. Come to think of it, the article on Samukai never DID specify what he looked like, and given the Tear’s situation (being sucked into a toilet and all) it makes sense he wouldn’t waste breath on saying a few irrelevant numbers.

 Of course, most of Felix’s theory was based on what living people looked like… still…

  “That actually makes a lot of sense, Felix,” Caila praised. T nodded. I realized she had been quite the entire time- did she not care, was she too confused to follow, or was she secretly thinking, just like I was?

  “So…” she muttered quietly. “All our evidence is that the Tear told us to beware this version of Samukai and the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord will be beaten by the Green Ninja, but Samukai’s still there…”

 It was then I wondered- what if I came up with the (true) theory that the Dark Lord and Samukai had destroyed the Tower? I could back it up by saying that it fitted with my theory about the Tower’s destruction, and that the Tear –who used to be there- warned me especially of them…

 But before I could speak, T surprised me by saying exactly what I said.

  “I wonder if the Dark Lord and Samukai destroyed the Tower of Tears?” she muttered nonchalantly.

 We all stared as we let that sink in. I had to admit, at this time I was finding a lot of respect for the others- all of them, even Finn (who was rightfully suspicious of me) had just shown they had the cunning, street smarts, and deductive skills to be a worthy warlord, villain, conquerer. Just like me.

 In fact, a thought struck me- what if the only reason none of the others (or Felix, Gene, and Finn, since T and Caila couldn’t have been there) were doing exactly what I was right now was because I just happened to be there when it all happened?

 That thought really depressed me- that meant I might not be any more special than Francis of all people.

_Hold on,_ I reminded myself. _No villain got anywhere by thinking he didn’t have what it takes to rule or threaten society. And anyways, the six of us could easily be the six smartest students –okay, five, since Caila doesn’t count- in this entire school. I might not be the best, but I’m still pretty special- no, not special. Pretty good in my own way. No one’s special._

 And of course, there was also a question of morality and motive, since Gene, Felix, and Finn were already ridiculously popular when it all happened. Still, even as I thought about it, did I REALLY need to do all of this? I could’ve just told the others what I knew and either get popular for it, or just get popular the old-fashioned way. I hated the idea that I cheated, but I had a good feeling that was more or less the gist.

 I wondered if I should just give it up, all of it, right here and now. Finn, Felix, and Gene became popular with nothing. While I never got the chance to see if I could, it’s still not very reassuring to me not knowing if I could make it. On the other hand, even with motive aside, could they have also been as smart as me to do all that I did…?

 Well, either way, I was determined to start figuring things out and doing stuff on my own. Maybe (partly) because of honor and morality, but definitely because I wanted to be able to do things on my own and succeed, without cheating or dumb luck, because no idiot would rely on either of those.

  Besides, I remembered. Trexdis told me I was cunning, more so than the others. Even if she was lying, or simply wrong, the fact that she acknowledged me counts for something.

 Finally, Felix spoke.

  “That… that actually makes perfect sense, T,” he admitted, and I remembered about T’s –correct- theory.

  “After all, why else would the Tear have warned me about _them_ in particular?” I noted.

  “On the other hand,” Caila pointed out. “He might’ve not known who had done it, but told you about the most dangerous escapees just because.”

  “That certainly gives some food for thought…” Gene admitted. Finn nodded. “And of course it may also matter how the culprits did it- after all, if they could destroy a place even Draik couldn’t break into while trying to free my dad, who’s to say they can’t just destroy the school?”

 It was an unpleasant thought. But then I came up with a solution.

  “Do we really want to stay at this school?”

 We all chuckled darkly.

  “Of course, they could be after us in particular,” Caila reasoned. “The serpent from earlier COULD have been an escapee, and it went after us, not the school or staff.”

  “Unless we were bait so the serpent could attack Draik,” Felix added.

  “No, that wouldn’t make sense,” I pointed out. “If it could find us, finding the teachers should’ve been easy.”

  “So then how come they haven’t destroyed this place any earlier, if we were the targets?” Gene muttered.

  “Maybe it doesn’t involve any huge blast or special power when they destroy places,” I said. “After all, it’s possible they need to find special weak points, form plans, sneak in their own, convert a few to their side…”

  “Then they could be doing this right now…” T said quietly. Even as she said this, I suddenly thought about the Crystal-Eyed Mummy and Nikon- what if what I just suggested was also their mission- to destroy this place? And what if Mangel was involved? He was Kirchonn’s master, and what if that six-armed creep was using his meeting with Draik to scout things out a bit? And of course, the idea of a traitor made sense, considering what Metallicus said that night during Halloween…

 Still, I decided to throw out another theory. _At this rate, I might run out of any secret_ _ideas, which could be a good thing,_ I thought.

  “What if…” I muttered. “David Cross was the Dark Lord?”

 The others all went pale and stiff (well, except for T and Caila). We all thought about it, and just seeing the others’ reactions made me secretly terrified, too. This guy could oppose Draik, something the six of us couldn’t come close to in a long time… heck, the stuff he did _scared_ him.

 And speaking of scaring Draik, didn’t that serpent scare him, too? So that would be even more proof it was Cross!

 Finally, Finn mustered his courage. “Well, it’s clear that the ‘rumor’ is truth…” he admitted.

  “Yes, yes,” Felix admitted. “In fact, I wonder why the teachers haven’t admitted this, due to how obvious this fact has become. And anyway, I think it’s clear ‘Dark Lord’ is not this person’s name, so…”

  “And from what the story said, Cross did stuff that scared Draik,” I added. “What else has scared him recently? The snake.”

 “So, if all of our theories are correct, then…” Gene said, thinking intensely. “David Cross and either a descendant of Samukai or the man –or beast- himself has destroyed the Tower of Tears and is most likely seeking out the destruction of this place, most likely to get revenge on Draik.”

  “Do you think he wants to save us?” Felix wondered aloud. T and Caila just looked on, confused.

  “No, if Lloyd is right, Cross sent a snake to attack us,” Finn pointed out.

  “Unless he’s trying to hurt the teachers where it hurts- their precious students, the whole point of this place, which they spent so much time, effort, and money to train,” Caila suggested. Even as she said it, I thought about the times when Scors griped about how hard it was to take care of us and how he didn’t want his effort to go to waste.

  “In fact…” Gene said thoughtfully. “If Lloyd is right and the destruction of the Tower was due to carefully constructed plans and agents, then the Bug-Eyed Mummy he mentioned could in fact be one of these people!”

  “Maybe even an escapee from the Tower!” Finn suggested.

  “With that in mind, maybe the reason Cross blew up the Tower was for practice, and so that the escapees there would be so grateful they might as well work with him!” I muttered. I had to admit, I doubted I could’ve figured this out on my own. I guess admitting my faults had its pros after all.

  “Wait a minute…” Felix muttered. “Lloyd, you mentioned that Finn’s father, the Insect Master, was most likely a prisoner at the Tower.”

 I frowned. “Yeah?”

  “So… if what you said is correct, and the gratitude of the escapees wins them over to Cross and Samukai –or his descendant- then that means…”

 All six of us put two and two together, and for the first time, even more so than during the incident with the snake, Finn looked outright horrified, paling beyond all human possibility.

  “Oh, no…” I muttered. So then daddy Insect Master was willing to hurt his own son, even if it was all because he just owed one to Cross.

 Before any of us could say anything else, Finn bolted off.

 For a moment, we just stood there in silence, feeling sorry for him. For a moment, I wondered if he had it worse than me- Finn was a mutant, which would certainly lead to a bunch of jerks singling him out. His mom was clearly dead, and his dad wanted him dead, all because some stranger did a favor and said ‘Pretty please?’

_In that case, he deserves all the good things he can get,_ I thought with a twinge of pity.

 Then T spoke up.

  “I wonder- why are we doing all of this?”

  “ _What?_ ”

 We all stared at her. T shrugged. “Why are we trying to figure out about this Tower of Tears? About Cross’ plan to get rid of Draik? About Samukai? Why would it matter to us?”

 We all thought for a moment, and I had to admit she made a pretty good point- I mean, it’s not like any of this would affects us at all. Cross wanted revenge on Draik, and Draik wanted him gone. Really, all that would happen to us was getting caught in the crossfire.

  “Well, part of Cross’ plan is to exterminate us,” Felix muttered.

  “Unless the whole attack was just a message,” Caila added.

 T nodded, smiling at us. “Okay. Thanks.”

 For a moment, I wondered if T already knew the real reason why- and I really can’t explain it to anyone, because only us kids from Darkley, or those just like us, could really understand. In fact, I had a feeling she was just seeing what they’d say.

  “Well, we should go after Finn,” Felix muttered. “As Brad said, you can always count on a fellow Darkley’s kid for a shoulder to cry on!”

  “No. Just… _no,_ ” I muttered as we ran off in Finn’s direction.

 

 It took us a while, but we found Finn hiding at the playground, where I had my first snow-ball fight with the others just a few weeks ago.

 The poor guy was just sitting inside one of those giant plastic tubes that kids can crawl through for no reason at all, other than because they can. He wasn’t crying, but it was clear he had been- I could hear a few sniffles and some red eyes.

 We stopped a couple of feet away, not sure what to do. Then Caila sighed and walked over, sitting on top of the tube and swinging her legs back and forth.

  “Hey, Ayabbers.”

 There was a pause, and Finn replied.

  “Hey.”

 “So, how’s it going?”

 “Just sitting in here.”

 “…You know, back before I didn’t meet you guys, I mostly hung out with my family. But sometimes I’d go out into town.”

  “Well, it took about two seconds before I was targeted. The others mocked and ostracized me, called me a freak. Boys and Girls would just throw rocks at me, or else gossip and taunt me.”

  “For a while, I stayed alone, hiding in the corners. Most of the adults acted more or less the same, but some of them, including all of the old people, they’d be nice to me. Even though they were the exact same people as those from this town, it was only externally. They were people who would actually look for what counts before judging.”

  “Still, that didn’t stop the other kids. Sometimes they’d go and try to outright hurt me. For a while, I ran, and I hated it. During those days I dreamed of revenge. Then I grew up, and I fought back, biting as hard and fast as a snake.”

 Caila smiled. “You could say I floated like a butterfly, then stung like a bee. Anyway, the other kids still hated me. But I didn’t care. I knew it would always be like that, no matter what. Eventually, I made a bit of a reputation for myself. Still, while it was lonely, I no longer had to run. I could finally build some pride for myself.”

  “Soon enough, I also began developing other hobbies. I liked to paint and draw, skateboard, and I really did like history. I also liked to read about boxers, like that one who was said by others to always be small, then fought back and won all of those championships. One day I decided to buy one of these books, but then another kid wanted it, too.”

 I whistled inconspicuously, averting my eyes and scratched the back of my neck. Felix and Gene snickered, and T smiled.

  “I didn’t like him at first, and he didn’t like me. So we fought, but it turned out he wasn’t from here- he was from a place nearby, and he had the same story like I did. So we hung out together, and I met his friends. Eventually, I made a bond with them, and we did all sorts of great things. We talked and put our heads together, and we were inseparable- and still are.”

 Caila sighed contentedly. “In case you’re wondering, the kid was Lloyd. And the friends were Gene, Felix, T, Terrence, Diablo, Brad, Lupus, Buzz, Seamus, Francis, Richie, and, well… you.”

 Caila got off of the tube and crouched in front of the opening, facing Finn. “Come on- let’s get out and enjoy Christmas, eh?” She held out her hand, genuinely smiling.

 Finn stayed still for a moment, and took her hand.

 The two of them got out, standing up, and walked over to us. Felix clapped his hands.

  “Wonderful story, Forrester!” he praised. “You know, you REALLY should be a children’s writer or something!”

  “Yeah, it’s really something heartwarming,” I admitted, 100% telling the truth.

  “Can you tell us more?” T asked. I wasn’t sure if she was joking or being sincere, but I didn’t really care.

  “Hey, by the way…” I muttered to Finn. “What Felix and I said about your dad- just because he is an escapee doesn’t mean he’s teamed up with Cross. And if so, he might not know you’re being targeted. Heck, he might not even know where you are!”

  “Or, quite frankly, he might not even know he has a son… or a child in general, for that matter!” Felix added.

  “Really, even I can’t deduce any possibilities or percentages,” Gene admitted.

  “It’s a wild card,” T added.

 Finn smiled weakly. “Thanks, guys…”

  “So, what now?” Caila asked as the six of us walked off to who knows where.

  “Maybe we can have a snowball fight with the others?” Felix suggested.

  “Nah. I’m sick of snowball fights at this point, Dweeb.” Finn grumbled.

  “Hmm… perhaps we could determine which of us could make snowballs the fastest…”

  “Well, we know _I_ can, during that practice with T!” I declared proudly.

  “But I never got to try!”

  “Yeah, Dweeb… besides, the rest of us probably weren’t trying!”

  “Yeah, well neither was I!”

  “All right, let’s do this!”

  “Ha-ha! A fierce competition between similar rivals that heats up this bitter cold of winter… the amount of viciousness will hold no bounds!”

  “Yay!”

 And just so you know, T won.

 

 Later on that day, after saying goodbye to Caila at least a million times, the five of us boarded the bus with the others.

  “Man, I actually think ours was bigger this time!” Terrence bragged.

  “Was your snowman bigger than the Spirius Drones’?” Richie sneered.

  “Uh… well… _no_.”

  “The cold’s making my nose run! Does anyone have a tissue?”

  “You’re not prepared this time?!”

  “I was, but I ended up using all of them…”

  “I’ve got a nosebleed!” T declared happily. Two lines of red were going down her nose after she had tripped during her victory run.

  “Poor thing. Let me help.” Metallicus randomly seemed to appear out of nowhere and handed her a tissue. And then, without looking, gave one to Francis.

  “He must be in a Christmas mood,” I whispered to Diablo as Metallicus walked off.

  “Too bad it’ll end,” he noted.

  “I’m glad it will, personally,” Seamus admitted. “Seeing Metallicus act so _off_ creeps me out!”

 Diablo and I laughed at this.

 Still, looking at T (who hadn’t bothered to wipe up her nosebleed) I was frankly glad –and impressed- at how quickly she had adapted to the school. It was only several hours (so not even a full day!) and she was practically one of us.

 Now, I wonder about that initiation ceremony Brad and I talked about…

 Still, at this point I figured it only happened to those who were clearly too wimpy at first. Even though T was acting pretty happily, I still remembered how creepy she was initially…

 Still, that just proved first impressions didn’t prove everything.

 Eventually, the buses arrived back at the school, and even as we left the buses Finn, Gene, Felix, and T went over to me.

  “Say, Garmy, we’ve been thinking,” Felix said slowly.

  “Stop calling me that!”

  “We’ve managed to deduce and figure out so much information thanks to the things you told us,” Gene explained. “And we only think it’s fair to let the others –or at the very least, the other members of the Search Gang- know about what we’ve figured out. And that means telling them what you did.”

  “Huh…” I said slowly. I thought about it- as Felix and Gene said, what I did was perfectly justifiable, and two of the most popular kids were on my side, and Brad was also my best friend. Plus, it’d help us more, and we might even get more kids to join the Search Gang and help…

  “Well, Dweeb?” Finn snarled impatiently.

  “Sure, why not?” I decided, sighing. “Feels good to let more know, and you acted pretty well during that incident where I told Metallicus about the Search Gang and whatnot.”

  “Speaking of which, I’m going to be a member of the Search Gang!” T cheered. I noticed her nose was still bleeding.

  “Well, not yet, and we need the others’ vote,” Felix added.

  “And if it’s somehow a tie, despite having an odd number, you can always count on my honorary vote!” Gene reassured her, patting T on the head. T stared at his hand uncertainly, and I grinned.

  “Well, let’s tell the others once we get back to the dorm,” Felix decided. I took a deep breath. “Well, might as well try to figure out how to begin!”

 We all chuckled at my joke, until Metallicus and Trexdis approached.

  “Hi Metallicus! Hi Trexdis!” T said cheerfully to the two of them.

  “Hey Trexdis! ...Hi Metallicus.” The rest of us muttered.

  “So, had a good time, eh?” Trexdis asked, crouching next to T. She silently acknowledged us by giving a silent thank you in the form of a nod.

 Metallicus grabbed the end of his cape and wiped T’s nose on it. “There. That’s better.” He muttered nonchalantly. He glanced at us. “Well, imagine my surprise that at least four of you meddlesome twits can actually do something _right_ ,” he sneered, patting us on the head. “Except for Mr. Technos. I had a feeling he could do it.”

 Gene beamed, while Felix, Finn, and I gave him death glares.

  “Oh, and by the way Garmadon, I still haven’t forgotten that homework assignment you owe me starting the end of Winter Break!” he added as he left.

  “I told him to shut up,” I muttered to T when she stared.

  “Still, I really have to thank you guys for welcoming T, and so quickly, too…” Trexdis admitted. “Listen- she’s special, just like the four of you, so it’s best you hang out with her.”

_Special?_ I thought. _Like the four of us?_

 Even as I contemplated the meaning of her words, Trexdis left. “Oh, and by the way, we’re having an event in the auditorium after dinner!”

  “Event?” Felix muttered. Gene chuckled. “Aha! I guess I AM the only one who knows! Metallicus, of course, told me.”

  “I know.” T said, smiling. Gene grumbled.

 The five of us made our way to the dorm, where everyone was busy chatting and buzzing, playing games, watching games, creating more graffiti, etc. I even noticed Seamus give Brad the ‘Missing Alien Suspect card’ for Cluedo.

  “I’M NOT USING THIS IN THE GAME!!!” he screamed.

 Still, the five of us made our way to the center of the room, and Finn cleared his throat.

  “HEY, DWEEBS!” he roared. Everyone stopped and looked at us.

 Already, I was reminded of my first day, when Draik introduced me. Man, that felt like centuries ago…

  “Today, Garmy has quite the news to tell,” Felix explained.

  “Garmy?” Richie asked, and the others snickered. I sighed, glaring at Felix, who grinned.

  _Well, here goes nothing,_ I thought.

 The five of us explained to the class about what happened to me during Halloween, and they also made sure to justify what I did and all of my actions. Even Brad spoke up and admitted they had a point.

 Then we got to the complicated stuff, and revealed everything we had figured out. When we were done, everyone had forgotten how I had withheld this information for quite some time.

  “NICE!” Francis praised. Lupus hi-fived a reluctant Gene, and the others continued congratulating us, so impressed with what we did that they admitted this should be more or less expected of the Search Gang by now. Hearing those words made me feel great.

 After a round of applause, several cheers, and so on, the five of us went over to Lupus, Seamus, Terrence, and Buzz while everyone else chattered about what they learned.

  “Hello, my fellow Search Gang members!” Felix declared.

  “What’s he doing here?” Semus pointed at Gene. Gene scowled.

  “I’m an _honorary_ member!” he snapped.

  “Anyhow, recently our newest student –and first female one, as well- T has requested to join the Search Gang, and I, the unofficial leader, deeming her deductive skills worthy, has decided she meets the requirements. Now, we vote on whether or not T shall join!”

 It was a landslide. We all raised our hands- after all, we liked T, and quite frankly we’d let anyone in- Gene was only barred out due to his relationship with Metallicus, and Finn’s torment had made a few of us reluctant.

  “All right!” Felix cried happily. “T, welcome to the Search Gang!”

 Lupus, Buzz, Terrence, and Seamus congratulated her.

 “Aha! Welcome to the club!” Terrence cheered, patting her on the back.

 “You know what they say- more is better!” Buzz chuckled.

  “Unless its zits,” Lupus chuckled.

  “Or armored history teachers!” Terrence added. “Oh, wait… sorry, T, heh-heh…” He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

  “I don’t mind,” T reassured him. Seamus, however, seemed thoughtful.

  “Hmm…” he muttered, staring at T intently. “We’ll need to go through her and check to see if she’s an alien spy or not.”

  “Right, and if she is, we’ll just go all, SPY!” Buzz laughed.

  “Luckily, I have the special steps to deduce our neophyte’s true identity,” Seamus added, leaning towards T and inspecting her suspiciously, like some detective.

  “You know, Seamus, even though you claim to be terrified of aliens and take measures against them, I wonder if you really just want one to try and take over the world,” Lupus chuckled.

  “How DARE you accuse me of being an alien spy!?! And they already ARE, just ask Area 57, the ADU, Atlantis Crew Team, Power Miners, Jake Raines, DINO, and the Mars Mission 'nauts!”

 Eventually, the nine of us grabbed one of the laptops Spirius-5 let us borrow and we watched the Nightmare before Christmas and Death Note.


End file.
